Wales is currently facing a significant nursing shortage, with over 2,000 nursing vacancies reported in 2025 across NHS Wales alone. This shortage places immense pressure on healthcare services, as existing staff are overworked to fill gaps, and recruitment efforts struggle to meet demand. Without immediate intervention, including increased investment in nursing education and retention initiatives, the shortage will continue to impact patient care across hospitals, communities, and social care settings.
The Welsh Conservatives have welcomed a partial scaleback on Cardiff University’s proposed cuts. The latest update outlines plans to enable the Mathematics, Chemistry and Nursing courses to keep running in some, reduced capacity.
However, concerns have been raised about the university’s decision to pursue establishing a campus in Kazakhstan while making cuts to its Welsh campus. The Welsh Conservatives maintain the position that more must be done to ensure all essential courses be protected and for universities to utilise their reserves before considering redundancies or cuts.
Commenting, Welsh Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Education, Natasha Asghar MS, said:
“It would be a national disgrace if any cuts to essential courses go ahead while the university pushes ahead with its plans for a Kazakhstan campus.
“Whilst this partial U-turn from Cardiff University is welcome, many staff and pupils will remain concerned that courses are still being cut and reduced.
“Cardiff University is the largest in Wales, yet with other institutions also facing financial challenges, I fear we may still see the loss of essential courses across the country. This would have devastating consequences for our economy, communities, and public services.”
https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/view/2903220-update-on-cardiff-university-kazakhstan
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