Universities Scotland responds to the publication of the Scottish Funding Council’s (SFC) academic year 2024/25 indicative allocations to universities and higher education institutions.
Professor Iain Gillespie, Convener of Universities Scotland, said:
“This is by far the toughest funding settlement universities have faced, as £28.5 million of Government cuts had to be found from next year’s teaching budgets. After a decade of real-terms erosion of university funding, the Funding Council has been forced to make some very difficult choices. Every university faces a cash cut to their resources to support students’ learning. There is no way that this trajectory of public funding in university teaching is sustainable. Universities will find it increasingly hard to manage these cuts whilst continuing to offer the high-quality education and wider experience that our students deserve and country needs.
“The cuts add considerable pressure to university finances at the same time as they face increased costs and significant challenges in recruiting international students, which has been relied on by most institutions in recent years as a source of income to cover the shortfall in Government funding in every Scottish student’s place.”
The full publication is available online on the Scottish Funding Council’s website.
Our response to the Scottish Government’s budget announcement in December is available here.