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…
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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…
Much to toast in the research record of our universities
It’s a big day for thousands of Scotland’s academics. It’s also a big day for Scotland. For the first time since 2008, all the best academic research in the UK has been independently evaluated. Scotland has performed outstandingly well with over three-quarters of all research submitted judged as being world-leading or internationally excellent. This is…
Alastair Sim: UCAS admissions data commentary
“When it comes to admissions, student behaviour has been impossible to predict this year given the vast scale of changes to student fees and finance across the UK and greater-than-ever divergence between the nations when it comes to fees. “UCAS’s comprehensive end-of-year analysis, which runs to over 60 pages, aims to shed some light on…