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UWTSD faces backlash over moving courses from Lampeter campus

Students and alumni fight to save campus dating back to 1822, which was a standalone college of the University of Wales until 2010

November 18, 2024
Juliette Rowsell
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Source: iStock/JOHNGOMEZPIX

A Welsh university has faced a backlash after it announced that it will move courses from a historic campus?because of concerns over costs and efficiency.

The University of Wales Trinity Saint David said humanities courses?that are currently?based at its Lampeter campus will be moved to its Carmarthen campus, 25 miles away, from September 2025.

The campus, which is home to 197 full-time students and 112 core staff across 30 courses, has been a university site since 1822, with campaigners claiming the decision to wind down teaching at the site “undermines” the university’s mission and commitment to its cultural heritage.

UWTSD was formed in 2010 by the merger of the Lampeter campus, then known as the University of Wales, Lampeter, with Carmarthen’s Trinity University College.

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A review was launched into UWTSD’s finances after its 2023-24 accounts, which reported a ?11 million deficit, noted “a significant amount of money was being spent on an underutilised estate which the university cannot afford to cross-subsidise”.

UWTSD is the latest university to announce a relocation from prestigious sites?because of ongoing financial pressures, following a decision by the University of York to move history courses out of the Grade I-listed King’s Manor, and the University of Sunderland’s decision to?close the National Glass Centre.

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“The Lampeter campus costs about ?2.7 million per year to run and the backlog maintenance and compliance costs for the campus are estimated at ?33.5 million, which is subject to inflation. This is not a sustainable situation, and the university must take action,” a UWTSD spokesperson said.

But a?, claiming that the move “would sever nearly 200 years of Lampeter’s role as a centre of higher education” and “devastate the local community”.?

The petition, which has more than 3,800 signatures, urges the university to rethink the move and instead “work with all stakeholders to create a viable, sustainable plan for the campus”.?

“This must include a serious investment in new courses, marketing, and student recruitment efforts to ensure Lampeter’s relevance and appeal for future generations,” it added.?

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One signatory wrote: “Lampeter’s campus is historically important, and the merger with Trinity should now be dissolved so it can be rebuilt as a proper university again. Shocking behaviour from shocking leadership must not be allowed to destroy Lampeter now.”

A university spokesperson insisted that it was not currently closing the campus, and was “committed” to retaining the estate and “finding alternative ways of delivering education-related activities that would give this campus a new lease of life and a more secure future”.

They added that the university was “aware of the petition”, adding: “We are early in the process, and we are discussing the best way forward with students, staff and representatives of other key stakeholders.”

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com

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Reader's comments (8)

#1 Submitted by GW844 on November 18, 2024 - 10:51pm
This is the university that since the merger has systematically shut departments and relocated many courses from Lampeter to Carmarthen, then utilises the argument that student numbers have dropped as the justification for this move. As for consultation with staff, many local loyal employees from the town were forbidden access to a meeting on Wed 13 Nov because they were employed on Zero hour contracts. The fact that this ban was enforced by security staff bussed in from Carmarthen speaks volumes about the integrity of UWTSD management.
#2 Submitted by hollyruthm on November 18, 2024 - 11:25pm
I am a proud Lampeter Graduate. Back in the 1990s it was a thriving campus with over 1500 students. The location is a delight and adds to the charm, no it didn't have all the amenities of a city uni but that was WHY we went there! It is the oldest degree awarding institution in Wales, and should be as treasured as Oxford and Cambridge. It is an important part of educational history and should be preserved and renewed not shut down and forgotten. Many alumni are up in arms about this. There has been an insidious attack on this precious place for years and it needs protecting. Lampeter deserves a future.
#3 Submitted by trudyallen on November 19, 2024 - 12:27am
Appalled by the - what seems an intentional - mismanagement and gradual deconstruction of Lampeter University, in favour of the Carmarthen establishment. The removal of these courses will only result in the closure of Lampeter as a University for good. A campus with significant history, and photos of which are still being used in marketing materials to attract undergraduates from around the World. If people wanted to study in Carmarthen, they'd have applied for that campus! One has to ask what the final intention is, has always been, for Old Building, with the connections some of the decision makers have with local businessmen. I echo was has been said before ... If you reduce the variety of subjects and courses taught, the student numbers will drop. Lampeter had no trouble attracting 1000's of students a year. It was a unique, life-defining campus and teaching facility that continues to forge connections among it's graduates. Beyond the teaching, it has been at the heart of a Welsh community for 200 years, a community that will struggle once these final courses are relocated to Carmarthen.
#4 Submitted by ianandlucy99 on November 19, 2024 - 9:16am
I studied at Lampeter from 1990-1993 when many of our history professors were frequently engaged as guest speakers throughout the UK and the USA. Student numbers were rising, new accommodation blocks were being built, the sports teams were successful in local and regional leagues and money was being spent in many local businesses. Reprehensible leadership (particularly since the merger) and continued underinvestment in time, money and expertise is the prime reason for the reduction in Lampeter's appeal. Rather than using its history and unique environment to attract students and lecturers - these very characteristics have been used as an excuse to exonerate chronic mismanagement. Failures in leadership have caused falling student numbers that are then used to justify further reductions in the educational services and facilities required to sustain the campus. Generations of leaders, lecturers, students and townfolk created an incredible place to study and to find one's place in the world - all thrown away in the blink of an eye by ineptitude at a monumental level. I am not quite sure how those people who have overseen this decline can sleep at night knowing that their legacy will be the closure of one of the oldest and most unique higher education facilities in the country.
#5 Submitted by paul.caswell on November 19, 2024 - 6:24pm
The whole thing is utterly disgusting. Lampeter is the oldest degree-awarding institution in England and Wales after Oxbridge. Old Building, the original part of what was then St David's College, was designed by CR Cockerel, who was the architect of the Asmolean. Chapel, redesigned in the 1920s, has a fine reredos by WD Caroe, and a pulpit by the same. The pews came from Oxford. At its peak (late c20th) the place held a fine reputation. Then, from 2007-8, deliberate winding down commenced. Lampeter's treatment has been shabby to put it mildly.
#6 Submitted by paul.caswell on November 19, 2024 - 6:31pm
Apologies for miss-spelling of 'Ashmolean'.
#7 Submitted by CIH on November 19, 2024 - 7:59pm
This university has always been at the heart of the town, and over the last few years there has been a complete lack of interest and care shown by the management in keeping this heart beating. It is a brilliant place to study and live, but the management don't care and don't want to invest. Closing courses and moving departments mean that the students will stop coming, and will lose access to one of the most historic and amazing places I have ever studied.
#8 Submitted by andrewgreenag on November 19, 2024 - 10:13pm
It is deeply disturbing that the Lampeter campus has been progressively and systematically reduced in stature and capacity since joining with Trinity College, Carmarthen in 2010 to form University of Wales Trinity St David's. It is hard to see how the move of undergraduate courses to Carmarthen can save money, when lecturers will still be based in Lampeter and have to make a 48 mile round trip to deliver lectures. At the same time, students will be unable to access their academic staff, let alone the large and varied infofmation and learning resources of the Roderick Bowen Library & Archives. As well as depriving current and future students of the opportunity to study in the unique learning environment of Lampeter, it will also bring to an end 200 years of Higher Education in Lampeter, celebrated by HM King Charles III in 2022 at the third oldest university in England and Wales, after Oxford and Cambridge.

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