News

Universities Scotland has welcomed the appointment of Deputy First Minister, John Swinney MSP as Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills and Shirley-Anne Somerville MSP as Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science in the Scottish Cabinet reshuffle. The appointment of this portfolio reinforces the importance that The First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has placed on…

Universities Scotland was asked for comment by the Herald newspaper for an article it published on Saturday 7 May about tuition fees from rUK and international students as a growing source of income in Scotland. The article follows publication of a report published by  Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Finances of Higher Education Providers 2014/15…

Universities Scotland has responded to a report published in today’s Herald Newspaper which shows that philanthropic donations to universities increased by 42 per cent in 2014/15 compared to the previous year. The  Ross-CASE Report 2016:  Giving to Excellence: Generating Philanthropic Support for UK Higher Education found that philanthropic donations from alumni and other donors amounted…

Universities Scotland today, Thursday 7 April, welcomed figures which show there has been a seven per cent increase in universities’ work with businesses and the community. The figures were published in the results of the HE Business and Community Interaction Survey (HE-BCI) 2014/15. The survey covers various types of university interaction with businesses and communities…

Responding to the publication of HESA’s UK Performance Indicators for non-continuation on Wednesday 23 March, Universities Scotland’s Director, Alastair Sim, said:   “Given the progress that had been made in each of the previous five years in Scotland, we are disappointed to see a small 0.5% increase in the number of full-time undergraduate students leaving their…

Universities Scotland has welcomed a final report published by the Commission on Widening Access today and repeated the higher education sector’s commitment to working to widen access. Universities Scotland shares in the Commission’s belief that achieving fair access is the right thing to do and requires system-wide change to do it. ‘A Blueprint for Fairness’,…

*Scottish Government news release* Initial response to postgraduate review group increases number of eligible courses. An additional 190 postgraduate courses will be eligible for student support in the next academic year. As part of an initial response to the report by the Taught Postgraduate Study Working Group, Scotland’s 19 universities offering postgrad courses will each…

The HE Governance (Scotland) Bill was passed on Tuesday 8 March by 92 votes to 17. Universities Scotland gave the following response to the stage 3 debate. A spokesperson said: “We don’t believe the case for elected Chairs was well evidenced. We remain concerned that this will deter credible candidates and undermine the good governance…

We have responded to claims in a new UCU Scotland report published today, Tuesday 8 March, on gender pay equality and challenged some of the data used by the report. A Universities Scotland spokesperson said:   “We have doubts about the reliability of the data in this report. Having checked with some universities the figures…

Universities Scotland has today, Thursday 3 March, welcomed the publication of a report by the Cross Party Steering Group on Post Study Work, which says Scotland would benefit from reintroducing a post study work route and a pragmatic solution can be found. The Cross Party Steering Group, which includes representatives from all major political parties,…