Welsh Government has published The Future of Tertiary Education in Wales: Five Challenges and Calls for Submission, setting out key challenges and inviting views on the future of tertiary education in Wales.

ALW’s submission will draw on evidence, outcomes, progression and data, but it will also reflect what we see every day in communities across Wales. Adults coming back to learning after long breaks. Learning that happens in familiar, local spaces. What changes is the way people engage when they feel supported, respected and able to learn in a way that fits their lives.

Much of the current discussion is focused on budgets and statutory commitments. Those pressures are well understood. Part-time and adult community learning must be planned for deliberately, not treated as secondary or optional.

It helps people improve their wellbeing, reduce loneliness and isolation, and rebuild confidence. It supports people to take steps out of poverty and into further learning, work or volunteering. In the longer term, it strengthens communities and reduces pressure on other public services. These outcomes may not always be immediate, but they are deeply felt and long-lasting.

Much of this work is delivered through the voluntary and community sector. These are places where relationships already exist, where trust has been built over time, and where people feel able to take a first step back into learning, sometimes after difficult experiences earlier in life. That trust is essential. It cannot be created quickly or replaced easily, and it is one of the sector’s greatest strengths.

Adult learning also aligns closely with the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act. It is preventative by nature, inclusive in practice and rooted in place. It focuses on long-term impact rather than short-term solutions, and it reaches people who are least likely to benefit from more formal routes.

The timing of this call for submissions matters, with work underway to bring Section 94 of the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act into effect. Section 94 is intended to strengthen access to adult further education and training, ensuring adults have meaningful opportunities to learn throughout their lives.

For this to make a difference, that duty needs to be reflected in policy, planning and funding decisions, informed by evidence about what works on the ground.

Adult community learning should be seen as an equal partner within the tertiary system, recognised for the value it brings and for the essential role it plays in lifelong learning, wellbeing and participation across Wales.

What is submitted over the coming weeks will matter, and adult learning needs to be visible within that picture to give it the best chance of a sustainable future.

Kathryn Robson, Chief Executive