Meeting of the Parliament 03 June 2015
Presiding Officer, let me declare an interest: my alma mater is the University of Strathclyde, of which I am an honorary fellow. Not surprisingly, I hold my former university in high esteem—I owe it a lot.
When I was established in my career as a lawyer, it was a privilege for me to be invited to serve on the university court, a role that I discharged for a considerable number of years. Uncertain at first about what was involved, I rapidly realised that I was part of an exciting and fascinating forum with challenging responsibilities. I found myself in inspiring company: impressive academics, people from other professions and businesses, leaders of industry, a member of Glasgow City Council—one Hanzala Malik—and, if I recall correctly, a recently retired very senior civil servant, a representative of the non-teaching staff and the president of the student union. There was even then a significant presence of significant women.
The backgrounds were diverse, but that grouping aggregated into a powerhouse of knowledge, skill, experience and wisdom, reflecting a collective ability that was impressive. We did not represent sectoral interests. Our collegiate focus was the best interests of the whole university. The group was also comfortable, given the members’ knowledge of one another, about deciding who was best placed to chair the court. The discussions were among the most well informed and well argued it has ever been my privilege to take part in, and the university benefited from enlightened and strategic decision making and effective governance.
Now, I know that some politicians feel uncomfortable about that. Shortly after I entered this Parliament, a political opponent—a former MSP—observed that because universities were public bodies receiving public money, they should be more under the control of Government, a sentiment that I think is being echoed by the cabinet secretary. Well, fortunately, having attended a university where I was encouraged to question such intellectual candy floss, I pointed out that, although universities derive a proportion of their funding from Government, they raise the rest themselves, hence in no way conforming to the definition of being a public body.
As Liz Smith has said, we now know from the OECD survey across Europe that there is a direct link between the autonomy of universities and the quality of universities. Each university is very different in character and culture. Far from demonstrating any weakness of inconsistency, that vital diversity is a huge strength. In Scotland, our universities over decades and centuries have showcased the best in learning, research, academic freedom and independence of approach. That is no casual platitude. That is the intellectual forum that is the life-blood of any seat of learning. Universities should exist to question, to challenge, to stimulate the mind, to explore and to discover the new, by examination, by analysis, by research and by deduction.
Above all, universities should be free of any whiff of political control or state intervention in or state prescription about governance. Without any supporting evidence, the Scottish Government wants to wreck that autonomy, trample over freedoms and demolish the fundamental elements of good governance. This has echoes of the chaotic debacle that surrounded the botched attempt to abolish corroboration.
Let me now utter a platitude: fools rush in where angels fear to tread. The cabinet secretary is a highly intelligent woman—she is no fool. When the Scottish Government proposals to change university governance meet serious and compelling criticism from Universities Scotland; from the principal of the University of Dundee, Professor Peter Downes; from the principal of the University of St Andrews, Professor Louise Richardson, who is moving to a very senior position at the University of Oxford in the near future; from the Royal Society of Edinburgh; from the Scottish Council for Development and Industry; and from numerous others—and when the system of governance has the full support of the Scottish funding council, the Equality Challenge Unit and the Equality and Human Rights Commission—I would not be treading where the cabinet secretary proposes to go. Only one conclusion will be drawn.
Please have the courage and wisdom to withdraw these unnecessary, dangerous and inept proposals.
15:21