Carmarthen, Brecon, Bala, Trevecca, Pontypool, Llangollen,
Haverfordwest. Many of these have a long history.

Higher education had been the dream of many centuries. Owen
Glendower had thought of establishing two new universities at the
beginning of the period of the Revival of Letters; among his
supporters were many of the Welsh students who led in the great
faction fights of mediaeval Oxford. Oliver Cromwell and Richard
Baxter had thought of Welsh higher education. But nothing was done.
In the eighteenth century, and in the nineteenth until 1870, the Test
Act shut the doors of the old Universities to most Welshmen; the new
University of London did not teach, it only examined; the Scotch
Universities, to which Welsh students crowded, were very far. In
1872, chiefly through the exertions of Sir Hugh Owen, the University
College of Wales was opened at Aberystwyth, and maintained for ten
years by support from the people. The Government helped, and two new
colleges were added--the University College of South Wales at Cardiff
in 1883, and the University College of North Wales at Bangor in 1884.
In 1893 Queen Victoria gave a charter which formed the three colleges
into the University of Wales. Lord Aberdare, its first Chancellor,
lived to see it in thorough working order. On Lord Aberdare's death,
the Prince of Wales was elected Chancellor in 1896; and when he
ascended the throne in 1901, the present Prince of Wales became
Chancellor.

The tendency of the whole system of Welsh education is towards
greater unity. There is a dual government of the secondary schools
and of the colleges, the one by the Central Board and the other by
the University Court--a historical accident which is now a blemish on
the system. The Training Colleges are still outside the University,