University Of Wales: Trinity Saint David

Trinity University College and the University of Wales Lampeter are merging to create a new university to serve the needs of communities in South West Wales as well as the wider needs of Wales in an international context.

The University will be known as the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and it will capitalise on both institutions’ expertise and knowledge to create a dynamic organisation providing greater opportunities and added value to students.Above all the university will continue Trinity and Lampeter’s commitment to providing a quality experience of higher education for all of its students to help them reach their full potential and will welcome its first students in September 2010.

The consituent Universities:

Trinty University College

Trinity University College is the second oldest institution of higher education in Wales, having been founded in 1848 to train teachers for Church schools. Trinity was awarded university status in February 2009, making it one of the newest university in the UK. It is an institution where the two languages of English and Welsh are given equal status and respect. It has a proud national identity, but at the same time there is a strong international dimension to both its ethos and its work.

Historically Trinity is a teacher training institution, but it has extended its range of courses dramatically so that, in addition to courses for teacher training, it now also offers Single, Joint and Combined Studies BA degrees and a variety of BSc and higher degrees, many of them of an innovative nature.

There are currently 2200 full time and part-time students who come from all over the UK. There is also a growing community of international students studying at the campus, including Study Abroad students from the USA , and students from other universities in Europe through the EU funded Erasmus programme.

For some courses eg. Primary Education with QTS, the percentage of students from Wales is high, whilst for others it is very much more cosmopolitan.

Lampeter University also has a long history, only being predated by the ancient universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Scotland.... St David's College was founded by Bishop Thomas Burgess in 1822 and admitted its first students on St David's Day in 1827.  For more than a century it was an independent degree awarding college, offering a range of courses, but maintaining a close relationship with the church. In the 1960s it formed links with the University of Wales. In 1971 it became a constituent institution of the University of Wales with the title St. David's University College. In 1996 the Privy Council - in response to a petition from the University - agreed to change its title to the University of Wales Lampeter in line with moves elsewhere in the University and the recognition of its growth and changing status.

Lampeter is one of the smallest universities in Europe with about 900 students on its campus. The total full time equivalent (FTE) student population is c.2400, a number that includes many part-time, distance learning students as well as students studying through partner institutions.

The creation of University of Wales Trinity Saint David will create and exciting and dynamic new institution.  Its mission is

"To educate, to advance knowledge and to serve the public good by providing bilingual higher education that makes an effective contribution to the economic, social and cultural prosperity of Wales within a global context."

Find out more about the vision and the plans for the new University of Wales Trinity Saint David