A Welsh university
We are a Welsh institution with a global perspective, and the Welsh language is woven into the fabric of our institution.
We are dedicated to promoting and celebrating the Welsh language in all our activities, ensuring that it is embedded in our identity, operations, communities, and day-to-day practice in a way that includes all our staff and students.
We embrace our Welsh identity
Cardiff is the capital city of Wales and the governmental and administrative centre of the country's fledgling democracy, with Welsh and English as official languages.
It is a young, dynamic, and global city founded on immigrant communities worldwide, including the UK, and Wales. The Welsh language, the English language, and a variety of international languages are all important parts of its identity.
Our inclusive Welsh Language Strategy, Yr Alwad/Embrace It, is both a commitment and an invitation, and it builds on existing Welsh language initiatives, networks, and activities at the university. Our primary goals are as follows:
Student numbers
Increasing the number of students enrolled in Welsh and bilingual (credit-bearing) provision, as well as exceeding the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) targets for students enrolled in 5 or 40 credits of Welsh-medium provision per year.
Teaching
Developing and improving our innovative, bespoke, and high-quality Welsh-medium teaching provision to reflect and invigorate our distinctive university identity.
Cynnig Caerdydd
Developing a Cynnig Caerdydd (Welsh-language offer) for our students that represents a one-of-a-kind, dynamic, and ambitious bilingual student experience.
Campws Cymraeg
Developing the Campws Cymraeg to embody a positive and inclusive Welsh-language culture and space for staff and students.
Research
Creating a Welsh-language research community that is open to the public.
The strategy provides a defined cultural and community agenda that complements and enhances the University’s overarching research, teaching and international ambitions.
We are a Welsh institution
Our Campws Cymraeg, which reaches out into our communities, captures the various aspects of Welsh-language life that our students and staff encounter both within and outside of the university.
The Welsh Language Academy
This is a Cardiff University institute that connects those involved in the Welsh language, whether they are students, staff, or external stakeholders.
The Academy will work across educational, professional services, and extra-curricular aspects of the university, reflecting the university's broader goals of being a Welsh institution with a global perspective in a cosmopolitan and friendly, multilingual and multicultural city.
Welsh Language Academy
We champion the Welsh language
We will create an inclusive environment for all our staff and students to ensure that the Welsh language is embedded in our identity, operations, communities, and day-to-day practices.
Our staff includes over 40 Welsh language Champions. The Welsh Language Champion's responsibilities include the following:
- assisting in the development of guidelines to support and facilitate an effective bilingual service for staff, students, and the general public
- championing best practices and engaging in awareness-raising activities concerning Welsh language issues
- taking an active role in communication and the development of an action plan for each university department
Opportunities to study in Welsh
1,000 students
More than 1,000 students are enrolled in modules taught in Welsh.
100 courses
We provide up to 100 degree courses that include some or all of their modules in Welsh.
Developing skills and employability
We promote research and teaching excellence, as well as employer partnerships, as the foundation for providing an accomplished bilingual workforce across key sectors in Wales.
We have many Welsh-speaking students studying with us. Students can choose to have a personal tutor who speaks Welsh or to take exams in Welsh.
We house the Cardiff branch of the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, which provides a Welsh for All programme.
Growing our Welsh academic culture
Our strategy is a commitment to the universal challenge of fostering and expanding a national intellectual culture alongside an Anglophone global academic culture.
In this way, developing Cardiff University as a bilingual and multilingual university connects us with universities all over the world, emphasising our outward-looking perspective and global credentials, and orienting us towards global horizons by necessity.
Supporting our collective ambition
We are developing our Welsh language activities in ways that support and expand the collective ambitions and aims of the university's strategy as they relate to our civic mission, education and research excellence, recruitment, widening participation, sustainability, and our impact as a transformative social actor.