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The British Broadcasting Corporation (more commonly known as the BBC), with its headquarters at Broadcasting House, Portland Square, London, was established by Royal Charter in 1927 with the authority to provide information, to educate and to entertain its audience across a wide range of areas including current affairs, arts and culture, education, religion and sport. Its predecessor, the British Broadcast Company, had obtained its licence to broadcast in 1923, and the public broadcast service in Wales began in the same year when a radio station was opened in Cardiff, providing programmes in both English and Welsh. The Welsh region of the BBC received its own wavelength for audio broadcasts in 1937 and its own separate wavelength for televisual broadcasts in 1964, since when it has been known as BBC Wales. Welsh language programmes were first broadcast on the television in 1953 and they have been scheduled every day since 1957; the Welsh language television channel is known as BBC Cymru. The English and Welsh radio stations (Radio Wales and Radio Cymru) have been separate entities since 1977. As a whole, the Welsh region of the BBC - comprising BBC Wales, BBC Cymru, Radio Wales and Radio Cymru - is also known as BBC Cymru Wales.

Established in 1872, the University College of Aberystwyth was a founding member of the former federal University of Wales. Its establishment was prompted by the inadequacies of the further education system in Wales during the nineteenth century. The main concern was the absence of a university, apart from the country's various theological colleges. The campaign for a university began in the early 1850s, but was sidetracked by the foundation of a teaching college in Bangor. In 1863, it was revived by one of the university's most prominent supporters, Sir Hugh Owen. As leader of the campaign, he felt that its failure to capture the public imagination had caused great damage and that by this point the establishment of a university was a matter of great urgency.

In 1867, Owen and his collaborators made a decisive move and bought, with the little money they had raised, an unfinished, recently bankrupted hotel on the Aberystwyth sea front. It was hoped that the physical existence of a home for the university would encourage people to join the campaign. Appeals were made to the public for personal contributions and the people of Wales, especially the inhabitants of Aberystwyth, quickly responded. As a result of this popular effort in collecting 'the pennies of the poor', the university finally did become a reality. It opened at what is now the Old College, in 1872, with a mere 25 students and was formally incorporated by Royal Charter in 1889.

The University's initial mission was limited - merely the establishment in Wales of a non-denominational university to bring education to the masses. The first Principal, Thomas Charles Edwards (1872-91), saw the university through its infancy. He steered it through the disastrous implications of the 1881 Aberdare report on Intermediate and Higher Education in Wales, ensuring its survival despite the establishment of University Colleges in Bangor for North Wales and Cardiff for South Wales. 1894 saw the unification of all three colleges into the University of Wales. Edwards also ensured that the college survived the testing times that followed the fire of 1885, co-ordinating the resultant re-building programme.

Subsequent years saw a continuous increase in both students and members of staff at Aberystwyth. The range of subjects taught also rapidly expanded. Halls of residence and new facilities were being built and student societies were also appearing and developing, providing a busy social life for Aberystwyth students. The work of academic departments also developed from the original remit of teaching students, to the conduction of ground-breaking research noted on both a national and international scale. Today, the University of Wales Aberystwyth has over 7,000 registered students, including over 1,100 postgraduates, across eighteen academic departments.

As of the 1st of October 2007, the University of Wales, Aberystwyth changed its name to Aberystwyth University. The Privy Council has approved Aberystwyth University's new charter and statutes which includes powers to award its own degrees. Despite the name change, Aberystwyth University will continue to award University of Wales degrees and the new status does not, in any way, affect degrees awarded to past students or the programmes being followed by current students.