List of universities in Wales
, there are nine universities providing higher education in Wales. Eight are campus-based: Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff, Cardiff Metropolitan, University of South Wales, Swansea, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, and Wrexham; as well as the UK-wide Open University in Wales. Higher education institutions receive funding from Medr, which replaced the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales.
University status in Wales only requires taught degree awarding powers. Most Welsh universities have the power to award both taught and research degrees, although research degrees at Wrexham University are awarded by the University of Chester. University status in Wales is conferred by the Privy Council following advice from the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. The criteria for university status were set by the UK government in 2004; since then higher education in Wales has become a devolved matter under the Government of Wales Act 2006 and is the responsibility of the Cabinet Secretary for Education in the Welsh Government.
In 2025–26 global rankings, three Welsh universities featured in all three of the major global rankings: the Academic Ranking of World Universities, the QS World University Rankings, and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. No Welsh university features in the top 100 of any of the global tables, although Cardiff makes the top 300 in all three and also places within the top 40 universities of all three major domestic rankings.
All Welsh universities are public universities and funded in part by the Welsh Government, previously by HEFCW, with an allocation of just over £217 million in 2022-23. Welsh universities also charge tuition fees capped at £9,000 per year for UK students, unlike other parts of the UK which have fees capped at £9,250, on undergraduate courses. In the 2023–24 academic year, approximately 150,700 students studied at universities or institutes of higher education in Wales. Included in the figure are 68,900 students normally domiciled in Wales, 52,100 from the rest of the United Kingdom and a further 27,800 international students. Welsh universities generate over £5.3 billion for the Welsh economy, for the financial year 2019/2020.
Funding and finances
The total consolidated annual income for Welsh universities for 2020–21 was £1.78 billion of which £230.0 million was from research grants and contracts, with an operating surplus of £74.2 million. £332.2 million was received from the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales via grants and £356.7 million was received from tuition fees of Home-domiciled students. The table below is a record of each university's financial data for the 2020–21 financial year as recorded by the Higher Education Statistics Agency:| University | Government funding body grants | Funding Body income as % of total income | Home-Domiciled Teaching income | Overall Teaching income | Teaching income as % of total income | Research income | Research income as % of total income | Total income | Operating surplus | Surplus as % of total income |
| Aberystwyth University | 22.1 | 18.6% | 16.0 | 54.0 | 45.4% | 20.2 | 17.0% | 118.8 | —2.0 | —1.70% |
| Bangor University | 30.3 | 19.8% | 27.6 | 75.8 | 49.4% | 23.4 | 15.2% | 153.4 | —1.5 | —1.01% |
| Cardiff University | 109.5 | 18.1% | 66.6 | 306.9 | 50.8% | 112.6 | 18.6% | 604.6 | 31.4 | 5.19% |
| Cardiff Metropolitan University | 14.8 | 12.1% | 42.3 | 90.2 | 73.8% | 2.4 | 2.0% | 122.3 | 2.9 | 2.34% |
| University of South Wales | 32.7 | 16.3% | 77.1 | 140.0 | 69.9% | 7.5 | 3.8% | 200.2 | 5.8 | 2.89% |
| Swansea University | 50.4 | 14.0% | 66.8 | 184.3 | 51.1% | 62.1 | 17.2% | 360.8 | 27.8 | 7.72% |
| University of Wales Trinity Saint David | 63.3 | 36.4% | 40.1 | 87.0 | 50.0% | 0.6 | 0.4% | 173.9 | 8.2 | 4.72% |
| Wrexham University | 9.2 | 19.6% | 20.1 | 31.6 | 67.2% | 1.1 | 2.4% | 47.1 | 1.7 | 3.68% |
Research Excellence Framework
The below lists the outcome of the latest Research Excellence Framework undertaken in 2021 by the four UK higher education funding bodies. The quality of research was rated 4*, 3*, 2*, 1* and unclassified. GPA measures the quality of research and Research Power is calculated by the GPA score of a university multiplied by the full-time equivalent number of researchers submitted. The rankings are out of 129 institutions across the UK:Rankings
The following table is a list of Welsh universities by their performance in the three main domestic and three main global university rankings.| University | Complete 2026 | Guardian 2026 | Times/Sunday Times 2026 | ARWU 2025 | QS 2026 | THE 2026 |
| Aberystwyth University | 45 | 62 | 42 | — | 741–750 | 601–800 |
| Bangor University | 55= | 62 | 59 | 601–700 | 566= | 501–600 |
| Cardiff University | 22 | 37 | 28= | 201–300 | 181 | 201–250 |
| Cardiff Metropolitan University | 66 | 87 | 71 | — | — | 1001–1200 |
| University of South Wales | 77 | 43 | 82 | — | — | 1201–1500 |
| Swansea University | 40 | 32 | 37 | 701–800 | 292 | 301–350 |
| University of Wales Trinity Saint David | 111 | 73 | 99 | — | — | — |
| Wrexham University | 129 | 111 | 122 | — | — | — |