Meeting of the Parliament 08 March 2016
It will be no surprise that we do not support the bill. Not only do we continue to believe that there is absolutely no need for it, given the Scottish Government’s complete inability to provide evidence for its rationale, but we believe that several measures that it will put in place will actually diminish rather than enhance democratic principles and reduce the effectiveness of university governance in some institutions.
The cabinet secretary repeatedly says that the bill is about making the
“framework of governance ... more modern, accountable and inclusive”—[Official Report, Education and Culture Committee, 9 February 2016; c 16.]
but she has persistently failed to produce the necessary evidence about what is so wrong with the existing system.
In particular, we object to the straitjacket into which the Scottish Government is attempting to place university governance, thereby failing to acknowledge that diversity is one of the sector’s greatest strengths. The dismissive approach towards our small, specialist institutions—which, incidentally, happen to be some of our very best—is disturbing and reflects an inability on the part of the cabinet secretary to understand the factors that have delivered the academic excellence of those institutions. That is not a good thing, and it is little wonder that some of those institutions have been so angry.
On some issues, the cabinet secretary has not paid attention to the concerns that were raised by Ferdinand von Prondzynski and her predecessor, Mike Russell, both of whom were the architects of this unfortunate bill but who at least understood the need for special circumstances in order to preserve diversity in the institutions.
When the bill was first mooted, the Scottish Government made it clear that its only intention was to make some minor amendments to legislation to allow transparency when it came to the governance and management of universities, and their accountability for large sums of public money. Interestingly, and perhaps tellingly, universities have approximately another 500 or so lines of accountability to non-Scottish Government organisations, none of which have had any issues with university governance. I would suggest that that lays bare the farce that the bill has become.