Following Friday’s (4 March) announcement by the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Tavish Scott, and the announcement by the Scottish Labour Party leader, Iain Gray, Universities Scotland’s Director, Alastair Sim said:
“Political parties need to enter the election period with a solid and urgent commitment to maintaining internationally competitive Scottish universities, wide access to a university education, and promotion of a high-quality student experience. This is vital to Scotland’s future.
“The joint report by Universities Scotland and Scottish Government which was published earlier this week showed that there is an annual teaching funding gap of around £202 million facing Scottish universities by 2014/15. We need urgent action to address this gap, or we will be unable to offer a high-quality university education to the wide diversity of learners who can benefit from it. We will judge political parties by their commitment to promote a university sector which is internationally excellent and widely accessible to able students.”