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…
News
March
24
2016
Inspiring our children to learn
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The Children’s University at Queen Margaret University Edinburgh encourages children between the age of 7 to 14 to take part in out-of-school learning activities using Passports to Learning. In doing so it makes learning fun and raises aspirations and expectations of going to university amongst children from a young age. The recent report from the…
March
24
2016
Response to HESA’s UK Performance Indicators for non-continuation 2014/15
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…
March
18
2016
Access to HE at home and abroad
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…
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’…