Our Director, Alastair, blogs from Pakistan where he has spent the week with the British Council exploring potential partnerships between Scottish and Pakistani HE. Alastair Sim: It’s been a week of contrasting perspectives on widening access to university. The first excitement was the publication of the Commission on Widening Access’s report ‘A Blueprint for Fairness’. That…
Blog
Gravitational waves: Scottish university research with global impact
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Professor Martin Hendry is Professor of Gravitational Astrophysics and Cosmology at the University of Glasgow, and Chair of the Institute of Physics Scotland. He is part of Glasgow University team at heart of an international effort proving Albert Einstein’s theory of gravitational waves. Professor Hendry: On September 14th 2015, just before 10am Greenwich Mean Time, the Earth…
UK policy on post study work visas: what works and what doesn’t
Maulin Buch came to Scotland from India to study at the University of Glasgow. After graduation he converted to the Fresh Talent visa that was available to international students in Scotland between 2004-2008. It allowed him up to two years to find a ‘graduate level’ job and settle into a career path in Scotland. Maulin comments…
Lara Findlay & Josh Carson of Geared App share their experience as graduate entrepreneurs
It was a real pleasure to meet Lara & Josh at our Making it Happen event on entrepreneurship in November. They shared their experience as graduate entrepreneurs with everyone who came to the event and kindly offered to put their words together in a blog. Lara: “GearedApp first started life in 2013. Our team came together…
Committed to transparency & integrity in our public affairs
Susannah Lane, Head of Public Affairs, looks ahead to the launch of Universities Scotland’s new website and the opportunities it provides to share more information about our engagement with Holyrood and Westminster. Susannah: Late next month we plan to go live on our new website. After seven years (seven years!) with our existing one we’re…
Reach made the difference in applying to medicine
I’m Alice Holden, a third year medical student at Aberdeen University and I’m originally from a little village outside Fort William on the west coast of Scotland. Studying medicine is something that appealed to me at a fairly young age, which may sound cliché, but through various experiences in my life I became aware of…
Game Changer Awards: Awards Winners Legacy Brochure published
Just over a year ago the Game Changer Awards recognised 30 projects in Scotland’s colleges and universities that exemplified the legacy ambitions of the Glasgow 2014 Games. Returning to those projects more than 12 months later, the legacy lives on and the organisers of the Game Changer Awards are delighted to publish an Awards Winners…
Alastair Sim: Higher education must remain central
The seventh of May was an extraordinary night. A Conservative majority in Westminster and a landslide victory of 56 SNP MPs means the next five years promises to be anything but dull. Universities Scotland congratulates every Scottish MP, new and returned, and the SNP on achieving such a remarkable result. As higher education is almost…
Pete Downes: There are big risks in tying universities up in red tape
In the rush to get things done, sometimes the best approach is to pause, take a step back and revisit what it is you are hoping to achieve. The responses to the Scottish Government’s consultation on higher education governance legislation are a clear indication that the Scottish Government should do exactly that. They make for…
Alastair Sim: Life as an academic
Scotland’s higher education sector already has it right on democratic approach to management/union relations, writes Alastair Sim. I was surprised to read the results of a YouGov poll last month that found more people across Britain wanted to be a university academic than a TV presenter, interior designer or Hollywood star. The role of academic was…