Ever since the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) launched its Reaching Higher strategy for higher education in 2002 its policy has been to encourage collaboration between higher education institutions in Wales.
One area where this policy has borne fruit is in higher education provision through the medium of the Welsh language. Y Porth (literally “the Gateway”) is an innovative Blackboard based e-Learning platform for the Higher Education sector in Wales and was launched in August 2009. Developed by Universities across Wales, with funding from the Centre for Welsh Medium Higher Education, the resources available on Y Porth include:
- A central repository of electronic resources for Welsh-medium students and staff from every HE institution in Wales
- Collaborative modules using a Virtual Learning Environment to guide the learner
- A register of Welsh Medium Academic and Support Staff
The amount of the materials available on Y Porth has been increasing quickly. One of the collaborative modules that started in 2009 was Law in Welsh with Health Law starting in September 2010.
It will also be of benefit to the Coleg Ffederal which is not a degree awarding body but will work with and through existing higher education institutions. Its mission will be to maintain, develop and oversee Welsh medium provision in HE in Wales. An Implementation Board was set up in May 2010 to oversee its establishment. As it will be multi-site, it is unsurprising that an E-learning/Blended Learning Group has been set up to support the planning process.
Devolution to the National Assembly for Wales has created a need for a need for a research tool that identifies the functions that have been transferred to the National Assembly for Wales and WAG, as well as the law in Wales. The Government of Wales Act (GoWA) 2006 altered the powers of the National Assembly quite significantly. It provided for the step by step devolution of powers within 20 fields. This has been referred to as quasi-law making powers as the Assembly has the power to alter the primary laws of the UK Parliament where it has the competence to do so. There is also provision within GoWA 2006 for an all at once transfer of powers coterminous with the 20 devolved fields following approval in a referendum which, at the time of writing, looks likely to be in the spring of 2011. This makes an updating service of the law in Wales a complex task but of importance to legal practitioners not only in Wales but in other parts of the UK as well.
Wales Legislation Online has stepped into the breach. It has been running since 1999 and is a free service funded by the National Assembly, WAG, the Centre for Welsh Medium Higher Education and the support of Cardiff Law School and the Wales Governance Centre. The overall aim of the new website is to show clearly and systematically:
- all the powers of the National Assembly for Wales
- all the powers of the Welsh Assembly Government
- the law made in Wales by the National Assembly for Wales
- the law made by the Welsh Assembly Government under devolved powers
- the law made by Central Government under devolved Acts
It is available at this link: http://www.wales-legislation.org.uk/
An up to date record of all specific matters which have been devolved to the National Assembly is maintained on the Assembly’s website which is available at this link:
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