Higher education students from all parts of Wales held a demonstration in Aberystwyth on Saturday (17th February), stepping up their campaign to establish a College with centres throughout the country that would offer courses in the Welsh language.

Like many other parts of Europe where state schools once punished children for speaking a minority language in the past, Wales has seen a boom over the past 30 years in native language education with hundreds of Welsh medium schools being opened.

But campaigners claim that only 1.5% of university students in Wales receive courses in Welsh and that only 0.3 of the University of Wales' budget is spent on Welsh language courses.

According to the students a radical change is required in order for Welsh education to succeed and they are pressing for a 'Federal' college to provide Welsh courses throughout the country.

According to Menna Machreth, president of Aberystwyth Welsh Student's Union “There is no continuity from Welsh medium secondry education to higher education. But the demonstration will show how much support there is amongst students and the demand from the community to for the end to the insult to Welsh as an academic language. She went on to add; “Our hope is that people will pay attention to the call ... and realise the seriousness of the situation and that there is an need for considerable investment in Welsh medium education to create a bilingual Wales”

Last year the University of Wales turned down the idea of establishing a Welsh Federal College, they also reject the budget figures claimed by the students.

Student's Film (in Welsh)
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQnAkCspTPQ