Cardiff University can connect the city to Wales and the world, its Vice-Chancellor has said.
Professor Wendy Larner told a breakfast meeting of Cardiff Business Club that the university was an anchor institution which could play a key role in building Wales’ international reputation.
“I am very clear that we are ‘of Wales’, working together to deliver the aspirations we have for our country,” she said.
Cardiff University has 33,000 students representing around 150 countries, and 180,000 alumni in 180 countries.
It opened its first overseas branch campus in Astana, Kazakhstan, earlier this month – the UK’s first Russell Group university to do so. More than 300 students have just enrolled there.
“This is the future,” said Prof Larner. “We know that international students are not coming to the UK in the numbers they were. We need to go to them.”
The standard of the educational background of the students was high, she said, adding that they were unlikely to have been able to afford to move to the UK to study.
The venture is not simply about education, said Prof Larner, adding that a number of international businesses were already in conversation with the university about research opportunities and professional development opportunities as a result of the campus launch.
“This will open up opportunities for Cardiff and Wales in ways that we are only just beginning to understand,” she said.
Earlier this year the university launched a formal consultation on proposed changes it said were designed to realise its ambitions and secure its long-term future. The consultation included a proposed reduction of 400 FTE academic staff and the possibility of school and subject closures and school mergers.
Prof Larner told the breakfast meeting that the entire higher education sector was having to ‘reinvent itself’, and described the past year as being about “fundamental change”.
The university was now moving into a period focused on growth and innovation, she said, adding that Cardiff was a “strong university” and that she was very confident about its future.
That future is in flexible lifelong learning, she said, and the university would reposition itself accordingly.
“We are an anchor institution for the city region and we need to be delivering cultural, social, economic and environmental benefits,” said Prof Larner.
Journalist Laura Trevelyan, who during a 30-year BBC career reported from around the UK and the world, is the university’s Chancellor. She has a post-graduate diploma in newspaper journalism from Cardiff University.
Laura, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, also addressed the breakfast meeting, speaking about the power of the alumni network and describing how a new programme of alumni reunions is set to be established at Cardiff University.
Phil Jardine, chair of Cardiff Business Club, said:
“Just a week into our new season I was delighted to give our members and invited guests the opportunity to hear from the Vice-Chancellor and the Chancellor of Cardiff University.
“There are many opportunities for businesses across sectors to benefit from strong links with what Prof Larner quite rightly pointed out is an anchor institution for the capital.
“Too often these opportunities can be overlooked in the day-to-day running of a business. The Business Club can play a key role in ensuring that the connections are strong and the communications clear so that the university, local businesses and the city’s economy as a whole can benefit.”
The next Cardiff Business Club event will be held at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, on October 7 between noon and 3pm, where guests will hear from Club Secretary Paul Thorburn. Tickets are available at: https://cardiffbusinessclub.org/events/
Laura Trevelyan will be guest speaker at Cardiff Business Club’s event in April 2026. Full details will shortly be available on the club’s website.
