staff, providing the necessary level of support for development where required, as well as accurately assessing – and effectively recruiting – the Welsh-language skills needed for new and replacement posts in key areas. Over the years we have developed excellent partnerships and external networks to promote the Welsh language and culture. Our collaboration with the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol and the National Centre for Learning Welsh is central to our strategy and day to day operation. But our work also includes supporting and developing projects with our national festivals – the National Eisteddfod, the Urdd Eisteddfod, and Tafwyl. We maintain close links with Welsh schools and with the Local Authorities within the University’s surrounding region. Building a community is key to our success as a university and our community on both our campuses cannot succeed without close links with our communities in south west Wales. As a result, we protect and maintain the mutually beneficial relationship with our Welsh language communities and further build upon that to reach the local non-Welsh speaking communities, many of which are multicultural communities including ethnic minorities, and ensure that the Welsh language also belongs to them. We are also successful in maintaining beneficial relationships with the national institutions of Wales, including the National Library, Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, Urdd Gobaith Cymru, BBC Cymru Wales and S4C, and local organisations, charities and businesses sharing the aim of acting for the benefit of the Welsh language. Therefore, this Strategy and the Welsh language within the institution have a solid foundation, and our aim over the next five years is to move forward, building further on those foundations to ensure sustained progress and to take our place with confidence amongst those universities in Wales that embrace, celebrate and promote the Welsh language and Welshness.
during their time at the University. All our staff and students also benefit from the services and provision of the local Welsh-language centres, T ^ y Tawe and T ^ y’r Gwrhyd. Through the work of our Learn Welsh: Swansea Bay Region unit, hundreds are joining our community and workplace courses annually to learn the language, and since the introduction of online and blended courses, there has been a further increase in numbers of those who choose to learn the language from their homes in countries all over the world. In order to give international students a warm welcome, we offer them the opportunity to learn the language and experience the Welsh culture while fulfilling the obvious curiosity amongst them about experiencing life in Wales to the full during their stay here. Our teaching excellence is matched by our international reputation for research, much of it rooted in the language, history and culture of Wales, from heritage-led regeneration projects and understanding the literatures of Wales in both English and Welsh, to policy-making and the exploration and promotion of Welsh as a vibrant language. The University is committed to the Welsh Language Standards (No. 6) 2017 Regulations, which came into force at the University in 2018. The Standards have facilitated significant development in the provision of frontline Welsh language services and the rights of students to access services through the medium of Welsh, which complement the Welsh-language developments in academic provision. Welsh language services for members of the public who interact with the University have also improved considerably, and the rights of Welsh-speaking staff are promoted and facilitated. Whilst the initial foundations in respect of the Welsh Language Standards are now in place, attention needs to turn to further embedding the Welsh language across University services, increasing the ability for teams to work bilingually at source. This will involve embracing and encouraging the Welsh-language skills levels of existing
Strategic Context
Our University has a strong tradition of teaching Welsh and teaching through the medium of Welsh. The Welsh Department was established in 1921 as one of our founding disciplines and has existed continuously since, leading internationally in various fields of research over the decades. Since establishing Academi Hywel Teifi in 2010 to realize our aspiration to expand our Welsh-medium provision, we have ensured that a wide range of courses and programmes are available through the medium of Welsh. In order to accelerate these developments, we work effectively and closely with the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, with the result that we now offer more than 21 subjects through the medium of Welsh, from law to medicine, history to biochemistry, and media to social work. In the past decade, we have experienced a 135%
growth in numbers of students studying a third of their course through the medium of Welsh. We are also working hard to stabilize and expand what is available to students, with new subjects such as Education, Paramedic Science and Pharmacy joining the provision. Swansea is a university that is proud of its roots, promoting its Welshness and offering a Welsh welcome to students wherever they come from. There is a vibrant Welsh language community on campus and in the local area, with students benefiting significantly from on campus residencies for Welsh-speakers, namely Aelwyd Penmaen on Singleton Campus and Aelwyd Emlyn at the Bay Campus. The Students Union’s Full-time Welsh Affairs Officer and the active Welsh Society ensure a range of opportunities and initiatives to further support our students
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