Tag: Economy and society

International collaboration to continue under Horizon Europe deal

Universities Scotland “delighted” by UK’s return to Horizon Europe Universities Scotland have welcomed today’s announcement that the UK will associate to the Horizon Europe and Copernicus programmes for the remainder of this programme (until 2027). Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation with a budget of €95.5 billion. Over the…

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84% of Scottish graduates say going to university got them the job they wanted

Research from Universities Scotland highlights the value of going to university, including that: 84.5% of Scottish graduates credit their university with helping them gain employment 74% of Scottish graduates found a job reflective of their ambitions in under a year thanks to their degree 75% of business leaders believe going to university enables graduates to…

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Widening access success as record number of students enter university

Interim targets on widening access met Increased numbers of widening access, care experienced and disabled students entering university An increase in the proportion of students coming to university from college Universities Scotland has welcomed the release of the Report on Widening Access 2021-22 by the Scottish Funding Council. Commenting on the report, Alastair Sim, Director…

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Universities Scotland responds to the Withers review of skills landscape

Responding to Fit for the Future: developing a post-school learning system to fuel economic transformation, published by the Scottish Government on 7 June 2023, Alastair Sim, Director of Universities Scotland said: “This is a bold report that seeks to tackle long-term challenges in the skills landscape head-on and proposes a major shake-up of Scotland’s structural…

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Submission to the Education, Children & Young People Committee Budget 2023 to 2024 session

Universities Scotland is extremely disappointed by the Scottish Government’s decision to withdraw £20 million of resource funding allocated to the higher education sector for financial year (FY) 2023/24 and to reverse aspects of the budget decision as supported by the Scottish Parliament in the Budget Bill (now Act) as passed on 21 February 2023.

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AI in higher education – friend or foe?

The topic of Artifical Intelligence has been of huge interest in the early months of 2023. Our latest blog sees Abertay University Principal, Professor Liz Bacon, discuss the role AI could have in higher education reflecting on her decades of work in this area. With the disruption navigated by our universities during Covid-19 thankfully beginning to…

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Students’ hopes, uncertainties and university support revealed to Minister on visit to Queen Margaret University

Students attending universities from across Edinburgh met the Minister for Higher and Further Education; and Minister for Veterans, Graeme Dey MSP, to share the range of challenges and opportunities they face as undergraduates, in a visit to Queen Margaret University Edinburgh on Thursday 20 April. Universities across Scotland offer active support to their students in…

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Horizon membership: a deal that works for Scotland, the UK and EU

Professor Iain Gillespie is the Convener of our Research and Knowledge Exchange Committee and Principal at the University of Dundee. In an opinion piece for The Herald which ran in its Monday 17 April 2023 edition, he outlines why it’s imperative a deal to secure Horizon membership for the UK is vital. Last month week…

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Response to Scottish Funding Council indicative allocations

This afternoon (Thursday 13 April), the Scottish Funding Council published their Indicative university funding allocations AY 2023-24. This follows the passing of the Scottish Government Budget for 2023-24. Today’s indicative allocations set out the funding available to specific university grants for teaching, research and innovation and clarify the specific funding available to individual institutions for…

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New innovation record set for universities’ work with business

New official statistics have been published that demonstrate the importance of innovation links between the business and higher education as Scotland’s universities continue to play their part in the economic recovery from the pandemic. The HE business and community interaction survey (HE-BCI) published by The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) show that Scottish universities in…

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