Earlier, during Welsh Questions in the House of Commons, Secretary of State for Wales Jo Stevens called the proposed job losses at Cardiff University “deeply concerning” and a “significant blow to university staff and their families”.

“I hope sufficient volunteers through a voluntary redundancy programme will come forward and be achieved in order to avoid any compulsory redundancies, and that support will be provided to those impacted,” she said.

But she added that “for the last 14 years the Conservative policies have seen our universities sector across the United Kingdom decimated”.

Stevens was replying to Plaid Cymru Westminster leader Liz Saville-Roberts, who said an “education disaster” was “playing out in real time”, and urged UK ministers to “scrap national insurance hikes” for employers to “ease the strain on universities”.

On Tuesday Vice-Chancellor Professor Wendy Larner defended the decision to cut jobs, saying the university would have become “untenable” without drastic reforms.

The job role cuts are only a proposal, she said, but insisted the university needed to “take difficult decisions” due to the declining international student applications and increasing cost pressures.

Asked, on Wednesday, what it message is to sixth form students considering applying to Cardiff University this September, particularly to endangered courses, a university spokesperson said: “We’d reassure applicants and prospective students that programmes for 2025-2026 will continue; we are committed to an intake for the coming academic year.”