Cardiff - Education

Education

Cardiff is home to four major institutions of higher education: Cardiff University, Cardiff Metropolitan University, University of Glamorgan and the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.

Cardiff University was founded by Royal Charter in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, is a "red brick" university and member of the Russell Group of leading research led universities, having most of its campus in Cathays and the city centre. Cardiff Metropolitan University (formerly UWIC) has campuses in the Llandaff, Cyncoed and city centre areas, and is part of the confederal University of Wales. The Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama is a conservatoire established in 1949 and is based in the grounds of Cardiff Castle. The University of Glamorgan's Cardiff campus, Atrium, is home to the Cardiff School of Creative & Cultural Industries and is located in the city centre.

The total number of higher education students in the city is around 43,900. The city also has two further education colleges: Cardiff and Vale College and St. David's College. The former is the result of a merger, completed in August 2011, between Coleg Glan Hafren and Barry College. Further education is also offered at most high schools in the city.

Cardiff has 3 state nursery schools (one bilingual), 98 state primary schools (two bilingual, fifteen Welsh medium), and 20 state secondary schools (two Welsh medium and a third due to open in 2012). There are also a number of independent schools in the city, including St John's College, Cardiff, Llandaff Cathedral School, Kings Monkton and Howell's School, a single-sex girls' school (until sixth form). Notable schools include Whitchurch High School (the largest in Wales), Fitzalan High School (which is one of the most multi-cultural state schools in the UK), and Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf, which is the largest Welsh medium secondary in the country.

As well as academic institutions, Cardiff is also home to other educational and learning organisations such as Techniquest, a hands-on science discovery centre that now has franchises throughout Wales, and is part of the Wales Gene Park in collaboration with Cardiff University, NHS Wales and the Welsh Development Agency (WDA). Cardiff is also home of the largest regional office of the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO). This office is home to the organisation's curriculum and assessment centre, which is responsible for overseeing the creation and grading of various IBDP assessments.