List of universities in Wales

As of July 2025, there are nine universities providing higher education in Wales. Eight are campus-based: Aberystwyth, Bangor, Cardiff, Cardiff Metropolitan, University of South Wales, Swansea, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, and Wrexham; as well as the UK-wide Open University in Wales. Higher education institutions receive funding from Medr, which replaced the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW).

University status in Wales only requires taught degree awarding powers (since 2004). Welsh universities have the power to award both taught and research degrees. University status in Wales is conferred by the Privy Council following advice from the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. The criteria for university status were set by the UK government in 2004; since then higher education in Wales has become a devolved matter under the Government of Wales Act 2006 and is the responsibility of the Cabinet Secretary for Education in the Welsh Government.

In 2025–26 global rankings, three Welsh universities (Bangor, Cardiff and Swansea) featured in all three of the major global rankings: the Academic Ranking of World Universities, the QS World University Rankings, and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. No Welsh university features in the top 100 of any of the global tables, although Cardiff makes the top 300 in all three and also places within the top 40 universities of all three major domestic rankings.

All Welsh universities are public universities and funded in part by the Welsh Government, previously by HEFCW (now Medr), with an allocation of just over £217 million in 2022-23. Welsh universities also charge tuition fees capped at £9,000 per year for UK students, unlike other parts of the UK which have fees capped at £9,250, on undergraduate courses. In the 2023–24 academic year, approximately 150,700 students studied at universities or institutes of higher education in Wales. Included in the figure are 68,900 students normally domiciled in Wales, 52,100 from the rest of the United Kingdom and a further 27,800 international students. Welsh universities generate over £5.3 billion for the Welsh economy, for the financial year 2019/2020.