Where do students from Mid Wales study?
8 March 2024
Owain James
In a previous blog post, I considered North Wales, the region with the highest rate of students who leave Wales for study.
Next up, the region with the second highest rate – Mid Wales!
45.5% of students from Mid Wales left Wales for study according to HESA (2021/22), which is about 20% more than the national average.
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There are only two Local Authorities at play here – Powys and Ceredigion. As you might expect, Powys has a high rate of ‘leavers’ (52.9%), which is unsurprising given that about half of the Welsh/English border is formed by Powys. There are also other factors, such as a weaker local draw (i.e. no ‘local uni’ nor major cities), but the long, fluid border is certainly a big factor. Broadly speaking, the closer you are to England, the more likely you are to leave Wales for study.
Ceredigion on the other hand has a lower rate of students that leave Wales (31.8%), below the national average. Again, this is not surprising considering it lies towards the west of Wales, and has a strong local draw in the form of Aberystwyth University (Aberystwyth itself is also the largest town in Mid Wales), as well as the University of Wales Trinity Saint David’s Lampeter Campus. As we’ve discussed in previous posts, local draws like this reduce the number of students who leave Wales for study. Aberystwyth University is by far the most popular choice for students in the Local Authority, then it’s The Open University, and then in joint third place is Trinity Saint Davids and Swansea University
Two very different Local Authorities and rates, but together they balance each other out.
