The operating surplus of Welsh higher education institutions has dropped by over £250,000 in a year, latest funding council figures show. Cardiff University accounted for 61 per cent of the sector's £11.8 million surplus in 2005-06, while three other institutions - Swansea and Aberystwyth universities and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama - were in the red. Of 13 institutions, only three - Cardiff and Lampeter universities and the North East Wales Institute of Higher Education - had bigger surpluses than in 2004-05.