Lecturers' union Natfhe is pushing for the creation of a 50,000-student super-university in Wales as a bulwark against large English institutions out to poach staff and students. It plans to call for the merger of all post-92 universities in Wales in response to a review of new institutions in the southeast of the country, which was announced by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales before Christmas.

Natfhe said establishing a super-university might be the only way to combat growing competition from English institutions, and to avoid course closures and job cuts. If an all-Wales federal post-92 university were created, it would rival the larger English universities in size. More than half of its students would be part time.

Margaret Phelan, Natfhe's regional officer for Wales, said: "We do not think the sector as it stands can continue to survive in a healthy state, which means there will be redundancies if nothing is done."

Natfhe wants to build on recent talks about a possible merger between the University of Wales Institute Cardiff and the University of Wales Newport by drawing the other five post-92 institutions in Wales into the discussions. On the day Hefcw launched its review, Uwic said it was exploring four options for closer collaboration with Newport.

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This follows the controversial collapse of merger talks between Uwic and Glamorgan University. An audit by the funding council found that a row between the two institutions' vice-chancellors over who should lead the new university was a key factor in the failure.

Ms Phelan said it was hoped that lessons learnt from the audit would enable a more ambitious, pan-Wales proposal to emerge. She said Natfhe would urge the funding council to be more proactive in the progress of any future merger discussions.

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Hefcw said an independent panel was to be commissioned to conduct the review of provision in southeast Wales.