The Welsh Agricultural College (WAC) was established in Aberystwyth, Wales in 1970 with David Morris as its first Principal. In 1995 it merged with Aberystwyth University.
In an unusual arrangement, the College was financed through a joint committee composed of representatives of all the Welsh local authorities. Its original mission was to provide vocational education in agriculture and for a number of years it provided National and Higher National Diploma courses. A Diploma took 4 years and included extensive work experience on farms. Later WAC diversified its provision to include courses in Countryside Management and Equine Studies. A degree scheme in Agriculture, offered jointly with the University of Wales Aberystwyth’s Department of Agricultural Sciences, was established in 1982.[1]
Student from this period were typically those who had not gained places or who had applied too late to read agriculture at more established agricultural colleges. There were several sons or daughters of Welsh farmers. The College had young lecturing staff, (including.... Wyn Jones and...), in contrast to the established institutions in England (Wye College, Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, Harper Adams, University of Reading etc). A 1990s reunion revealed that only about half of the 1970s students later ended up working in agriculture.[2] There were very few women students at WAC.
In 1995 the Welsh Agricultural College was no more. It joined the University and merged with the Department of Agricultural Sciences to form the Welsh Institute of Rural Studies, with Michael Haines appointed as its first Director.
WIRS was later renamed the Institute of Rural Sciences. The current name is the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) and Aberystwyth University has now left the University of Wales.