At odds with both the general thrust of the English higher education debate and the jeremiads of the opposition, Williams has forged a Diamond-encrusted path for Welsh student finance. As the sole Liberal Democrat in the Welsh Assembly, she has worked with a Labour minority administration as Education Secretary since 2016, steering through radical changes to higher education policy – most recently consulting on the Hazelkorn recommendations on wider post-compulsory education. A confident and impressive assembly member, her focus on the delivery of a genuinely fair and progressive system has done more to improve the poor sector perception of her party than any amount of Westminster hand-wringing.
Now many in English higher education look on with some jealousy: Williams has shown how it’s possible for a government to tackle HE finance without bankrupting universities, giving students a fairer deal in the process.