Official Report search · Parliament Workbench

Chamber

Plenary, 01 Nov 2001

01 Nov 2001 · S1 · Plenary

Item of business

Teaching and Research Funding (Scottish Higher Education Funding Council Review)

Lochhead, Richard SNP North East Scotland Watch on SPTV

This is an important debate, focusing not only on the SHEFC report, but on many of the general issues surrounding it. Our new universities have been making their mark over the past few years and the Scottish economy is at a crossroads. It is very important that we get the funding, role and priorities for our universities right.

Higher education has three roles. First, it must equip Scotland for the 21st century. Secondly, it has to maintain Scotland's reputation in those areas in which we excel. Thirdly, it has to provide all people with the opportunity for self-development. We cannot consider higher education in isolation; we must also consider further education and the role of our schools. We must ensure that they all have a clear role and that there is a link between all the institutions, taking a holistic view of education at this important time.

I am concerned by the blurring at the edges that has been taking place in recent years. Schools are competing with colleges for the same students; colleges are competing with universities for the same students; and universities are now offering access courses, which it has traditionally been the role of colleges to do. Universities sometimes seem to offer those courses as an incentive to get people in to fill the seats. There is a sense that it is dog eat dog out there and that too many of our institutions have adopted a bums-on-seats strategy. I am concerned that many of our young people do not find themselves in the right lecture theatres. We must ensure that what is done is done for the benefit of the young people in Scotland, not for the institutions.

There has been an upward trend in the presence of accountants and financial executives in the higher education sector over the past few years. Many of our higher education institutions are now indulging in a lot of advertising. Bernard King, the principal of the University of Abertay Dundee, who is sitting in the public gallery, has received a lot of praise today, and I join in that praise. I visited the university recently and was highly impressed by initiatives such as the international centre for computer games and virtual entertainment. It is an outstanding university. Nevertheless, when I was watching television last night, I saw an advert for the university on the ITV network that said simply:

"University of Abertay Dundee: It's a real education!"

and gave a telephone number. Why are universities spending so much money on advertising and public relations? Why is that money not being put to better use? Is it because something somewhere is out of sync and the universities have too many places to fill? That problem must be addressed by the minister.

I hope that all higher and further education institutions find their own niche and role in Scottish education, and I would like there to be more collaboration. At the moment, an initiative is being undertaken by the University of Aberdeen and the Robert Gordon University to ensure that they do not compete for the same students. They are speaking to each other to ensure that they have individual and distinctive roles.

I shall address a couple of the recommendations in the report. The first concerns the role of the new universities. Many members have referred to the need for level 3 research funding. That funding is extremely important. There is no point in creating new universities and then discriminating against them; they must receive their fair share of research funding. The philosophy and theology department of the University of Edinburgh receives the same amount of research funding through the funding councils as most of Scotland's new universities receive in total. For example, that department receives the same amount of research funding as the whole of RGU. Is that right at this crossroads for the Scottish economy? We must address that.

Level 3 research bids must be addressed, as we must give the new universities seedcorn funding. Europe's oil and gas industry is based in the north-east of Scotland, yet BP is spending tens of millions of pounds on research and development in universities south of the border. Surely, we should encourage the funding for such research to be allocated to areas of expertise, where it makes sense, such as the north-east of Scotland. Our universities want to bid for that research funding but have not received the seedcorn funding that would enable them to build up a track record and attract private sector funding.

Search Hansard contributions

Plenary, 01 Nov 2001

In the same item of business