The number of students receiving some of their teaching in Welsh fell in 2011-12, with huge differences in the language¡¯s prevalence at Wales¡¯ universities.

Figures from the Welsh government show that 4,715 students at institutions in the country were being taught in the language, a 4?per cent decrease on the previous year.

This represents 3.6 per cent of all students at Welsh universities, compared with 3.8 per cent in 2010-11.

The data, contained in the statistical bulletin Welsh in Higher Education Institutions, 2011/12, show that teaching in the language is common in some universities but virtually absent from others.

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At the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (which has since merged with Swansea Metropolitan University and the University of Wales), almost a third of all students were taught in Welsh. At Bangor University the figure was 12?per cent.

Together, the institutions taught seven in 10 of all students being instructed in Welsh.

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However, at the University of Wales, Newport (now merged with the University of Glamorgan), just 0.2?per cent were taught in Welsh. At Cardiff University, Wales¡¯ premier research institution, the figure was 0.8 per cent.

The Cardiff government aims to have 5,600 students a year taking at least five credits of their courses in Welsh by 2015-16, although the statistics do not record this particular measure.

In a statement, a spokesman for the government acknowledges that the figures show a ¡°tiny decrease¡± in teaching in Welsh.

But he also points out that the number of staff able to teach in the language has increased by more than 10 per cent to 800.

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The data reveal that of those academics who are able to teach in Welsh, the number actually doing so was 510. In 2010-11 the figure was 465.

¡°We are committed to ensuring that people are able to live all aspects of their lives through the medium of Welsh, including¡­higher ?education,¡± the spokesman says.

david.matthews@tsleducation.com