Vikki Howells MS, Minister for Further and Higher Education
I have today laid a draft of the Higher Education (Fee Limits) (Wales) Regulations 2026 (“the Fee Limits Regulations”). These will specify the maximum amount of fees that a ‘qualifying person’ undertaking a ‘qualifying course’ of higher education may be charged for the purposes of the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022 (“the 2022 Act”). I intend to specify qualifying persons and qualifying courses for this purpose in a further statutory instrument to be made next month.
The primary intention behind these statutory instruments is to ensure that tuition fee caps continue to apply from academic year 2027/28 onwards, following the full implementation of the 2022 Act and the repeal of the existing regulatory regime for higher education in Wales.
In November 2025 I wrote to members confirming my intention to increase tuition fee caps for academic year 2026/27, and I have recently made the Education (Student Finance) (Amounts) (Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2026 to provide for this increase. In that statement I also confirmed that the tuition fee caps for the 2027/28 academic year will be considered in the next Senedd term.
The Fee Limits Regulations make provision in relation to academic year 2027/28 to enable Medr to establish the register of tertiary education providers in Wales (as required by Part 2 of the 2022 Act) and to include a fee limit category for higher education providers.