Cardiff University to be removed from Russell Group and replaced with Cardiff Met

Cardiff University is to be removed as a Russell Group and replaced by Cardiff Met.

The change in status won’t apply to this year’s graduating class of 2025 but all other cohorts after this date to no longer be graduating from a Russell Group university.

This news follows a three-year discussion among Russell Group members, who concluded that Cardiff Metropolitan University has greater potential as a productive member of the research body than Cardiff University.

The Russell Group is a self-selected association of 24 leading research-intensive universities in the UK. These universities are known for their high academic standards, strong research output, and competitive entry requirements. The group includes institutions like Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College London, UCL, and the University of Manchester.

Cardiff University has been questioned by Russell Group members following its recent news of course cuts to nursing, modern foreign languages, music, ancient history, and religion and theology and plans to cut over 400 jobs, as it faces a £30 million “black hole in its budget”.

Being part of the Russell Group often means a university has access to significant research funding, attracts top academics, and offers excellent graduate employability prospects.

However, members of the body have previously expressed interest in Cardiff Metropolitan University following its sporting excellence and performance in the 2024 Research Excellence Framework (REF) periodic review. 

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For Cardiff University, being in the Russell Group has given the institution access to significant research funding, as well as allowing it to collaborate with top institutions. It ranks well in various university league tables and is particularly strong in journalism, media, biosciences, and engineering.

The change will see Cardiff Met skyrocket in status, attracting top-tier funding, elite academics, and ambitious students. It has been reported that it could go from being known for sports and vocational courses to competing with Oxford and Cambridge in research.

Cardiff Metropolitan students are shocked and delighted with the information. April, a second year business management student, told The Cardiff Tab: “We always knew that Cardiff Met was the better university, now we have the Russell Group credentials to prove it.

“I mean, we have Helen Glover, Jill Dando, and Alex Dombrandt as our alumni, and you have, who? Oh yeah, Huw Edwards.”

A spokesperson for Cardiff University told The Cardiff Tab that this change will not affect the validity of prospective students’ experiences or degrees but the university will seek to increase funding for research. Funding will be raised by leasing out spaces in the Centre for Student Life building.

The spokesperson also mentioned that the uni is considering doubling the price of drinks and decreasing the number of YOLOs to one every two weeks in the hope of raising research funding.

Will students still flock to Cardiff University? Or will Cardiff Met become the new hotspot for academic excellence?

One thing is for sure, it will turn Welsh higher education on its head.

You should probably check the date, you April fools!