News

Figures released today by the Scottish Funding Council [Wednesday 25 March] in its ninth Learning for All report show increases in the number of students starting university from across a wide range of under-represented groups including: students living in Scotland’s most deprived 20 and 40 per cent of neighbourhoods – up 10.1 per cent and…

Scotland’s universities welcome appointment of Chair to Widening Access Commission Universities Scotland has today, Tuesday 17 March, warmly welcomed the announcement of Dame Ruth Silver’s appointment to Chair the Scottish Government’s Commission on Widening Access. Scotland’s universities are committed to widening access to university for every single child with the desire and ability, no matter…

Today, Wednesday 6 March, universities in Scotland and South Korea will sign a memorandum of understanding to foster closer academic ties between the two countries. The formal agreement is to be signed by the representative bodies of universities in both countries; Universities Scotland and the Korean Council for University Education at an event hosted by…

Allocations of the Scottish Funding Council’s main research grants for higher education institutions were announced today (6 March). The announcement confirms a much-feared cut of £12.9 million to funds available for university research next year. Several individual universities will lose millions in funding despite returning their strongest performance in “world-leading” research as confirmed by the…

Universities Scotland has today, Tuesday 3 February, published its response to the Scottish Government’s university governance consultation. You can read the response in full here. Professor Pete Downes, Convener of Universities Scotland, has commented on a number of aspects of the university governance consultation:   University autonomy and diversity “Principals believe in inclusive, transparent and robustly accountable…

Today (Thursday 18 December) sees the publication of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 results for all 154 higher education institutions across the UK. Key findings for Scotland: Every one of Scotland’s 18* higher education institutions undertakes research judged to be of “world-leading” quality. The higher education sector in Scotland submitted research to all 36…

Responding to the news of the Scottish Government Cabinet reshuffle which sees Angela Constance MSP replace Michael Russell in the role of Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, Pete Downes, Convener of Universities Scotland said: “We look forward to working with Angela Constance in the role of Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning….

Scotland’s universities and business leaders have united together in calling upon the Smith Commission to seize the opportunity and ensure that partial devolution of immigration policy is included as an additional power for Scotland in the Heads of Agreement to be reached by the end of this month. The staff, students and principals at Scotland’s…

University leaders today: Demonstrated the high standards of transparency, accountability and effectiveness of current higher education governance arrangements in a Code which establishes a ‘new normal’ of excellence Commented on the Scottish Government’s consultation about proposed legislation on higher education governance. Excellence in governance: report on implementation of new standards The Committee of the Chairs…

Universities Scotland responded to widening access data published by the Scottish Funding Council today (Tuesday 4 November) in Learning for All by welcoming the progress the report shows on access and retention. Learning for All presents annual statistics on widening access in the college and university sector. The 2014 report shows an increase in the…