Our Response To Uni's Decision

Monday 03-02-2025 - 11:30
Blog response lampeter post v2

We want to update our members on what we know, our stance, and our next steps as your Students' Union, following the University's decision to move the Humanities courses from Lampeter to Carmarthen.

What we know

  • Tuesday 21 January there is a University Senior Leadership Team Meeting; the SU attends with the Lampeter Campus President presenting on the asks of students in the scenario where the University chooses to move programmes. Lampeter Campus President makes it clear that the University should only be considering this move if it is absolutely necessary.
  • Thursday 23 January there is a University Council meeting, in which it is recognised that a decision to move current and future taught Humanities provision will change the educational character of the Lampeter campus. Council approves a proposal to establish a project to explore opportunities for new activity on the Lampeter campus.   
  • On Thursday 23 January at 1pm the Lampeter Campus President receives an email update thanking her for her presentation to SLT and informing her of the decision made at SLT and endorsed by University Council. The decision is shared with Lampeter students and staff at 1:14pm and other stakeholders later in the day. 
  • In response, the SU posts a blog noting we are taking our time to process what it all means and share the presentation given by the Lampeter Campus President 21 January. 
  • On Monday 27 January SU Exec meets to discuss a route forward regarding the University’s decision. A further meeting is held that day with the leaders of the University’s Western Campus project group for the SU to describe its approach and confirm what the University is undertaking.  

Our Stance 

SU Exec is the formal collective name for the sabbatical officer team. They met on Monday 27 January. During this meeting the Chief Operating Officer and Head of Planning of the University were invited to walk through the decision and what some of the considerations for next steps are. Once University officers had left, the Sabbatical Officers had the space to decide if they would attempt to reverse the decision or whether their full focus should be on getting the best for students in light of the decision. The officer team has chosen to focus all of its efforts on what the move will look like. 

On Tuesday 28 January there was an announcement at Cardiff University that it will be undertaking significant changes to its existing provision. As an SU we extend our solidarity to all those at our sibling Students’ Union (Cardiff SU) who will be working to ensure the impact of change is minimised. The reason we are mentioning Cardiff University is that it displays that the sector is doing all it can in uncertain times. In addition, we respect that the UWTSD’s leadership has done all it can to avoid changes like those happening at Cardiff. 

Next Steps

Our approach going forward has several elements: 

  1. Moving from proposal to action – we will be working with the University to be clear on the practical implications now that the proposal has been approved. 
  2. Transition & Integration support – The University and Students’ Union will work together to ensure that what students need in any transition between sites is accounted for and actioned. We all want to help people settle quickly. 
  3. Exit support – some students may decide to leave the University due to this decision. We respect that choice and have been assured by the University that as an SU we will be provided with updates on how it is supporting these students. We will be encouraging any student who wishes to exit the University to complete their current level of study before leaving and joining another University to complete their programme. 
  4. Communication – we will continue to share frequent updates when we have things to communicate with the student population. 
  5. Lampeter campus – the Lampeter Campus President will actively communicate and engage in discussions relating to future proposals for the sustainable use of the Lampeter campus. 
  6. Commitments – we will be holding the University to account for the commitments it has made to students and to the SU. These commitments include: 
    1. Accommodation being available for students on site. 
    2. Accommodation pricing (and discount) – we will communicate in our next blog the discount that the Lampeter Campus President has worked hard to gain for those transferring. 
    3. Timetabling and the block system remaining in place. 
    4. Transport 
    5. Jobs & Employability as a concern with a response from the University on:
    6. A Transition Fund (as mentioned in point 2 above) 
    7. Communication on Learning Resources (as found in the presentation the Lampeter Campus President gave to SLT) 
    8. Assurances for Exits (as mentioned in point 3 above) 

When we refer to University Council we would ask that people take a look at the University’s website to understand more about what Council is and how it operates.

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Future of Lampeter

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