Leading article: Merger misery

The news that the latest merger talks between the University of Wales Institute Cardiff and the University of Wales Newport have collapsed is depressing for the principality. Wales has too few students rattling around in too many buildings. That is expensive and an inefficient use of resources. Precious taxpayers' money should be concentrated on institutions that are well resourced and high quality. How can that happen if Welsh institutions fail to grasp the message that they have to change to compete in the new globalised world of higher education? Without mergers higher education in south Wales faces a spiral of decline, as the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales has warned.