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…
News
March
14
2016
Universities will play their part in driving system-wide change to widen access
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’,…
March
14
2016
More support for postgraduate students
*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…
March
09
2016
Response to the stage 3 debate of the HE Governance (Scotland) Bill
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…
March
08
2016
Response to UCU Scotland report on gender pay equality
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…
March
03
2016
Cross party consensus produces proposal for reintroduction of post study work
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,…
March
02
2016
Comment on funding for additional widening access places
Following the publication of the Scottish Funding Council’s indicative allocations for 2016/17, we were asked for comment on 1 March regarding the status of funding for additional places for widening access at Scotland’s universities. A Universities Scotland spokesperson said: “The lack of funding for ring-fenced widening access places next year does not detract from universities’…
February
23
2016
Response to the publication of the SFC’s Gender Action Plan
Universities Scotland has responded to the publication of the Scottish Funding Council’s Gender Action Plan: Interim Report today, Tuesday 23 February. Universities Scotland’s Director, Alastair Sim said: “Universities don’t want to see underrepresentation of any kind. It is in no-one’s interests to have certain subjects, and so certain careers, dominated by one gender or…
February
22
2016
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…
February
09
2016
Cross-party criticism of the ‘embarrassing’ Bill but it passes latest legislative hurdle
University leaders welcomed the scrutiny of the HE Governance (Scotland) Bill at the Education Committee today [Tuesday, 9 February] as members of Scottish Labour, the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Scottish Conservatives and the Scottish National Party all heavily criticised the Higher Education Governance (Scotland) Bill at stage 2, calling it ‘embarrassing’ and ‘unworkable’. The Cabinet Secretary…