Meeting of the Parliament 06 March 2018
I thank the minister for the early sight of her statement. I have three areas of questioning.
First, Sir Peter Scott said in his recommendations:
“the fixed cap inevitably raises concerns that the drive to recruit SIMD20 students may reduce opportunities for other students.”
The point was reiterated by Audit Scotland, and Sir Peter made the same point to the Education and Skills Committee two weeks ago. It is a hugely important point in respect of the wider picture of university entrance and university funding.
Will the minister therefore say today whether the Scottish Government is minded to amend the current structure of funded places? Will she explain exactly what she meant in her concluding remarks when she said that there is “no short cut” to achieving the Scottish Government’s targets through a drop in demand for places from elsewhere? Her answer to that is also crucial to the sector.
Secondly, our universities are particularly interested in what Sir Peter Scott said on the debate about what constitutes academic excellence, and the high standards that have traditionally been the hallmark of the Scottish sector. They want to know whether, in the context of widening access, traditional measures of academic excellence and success will be challenged. What is the Scottish Government’s response on that? Again, it is a crucial question.
Finally, can the Scottish Government tell us the timescale within which universities can expect to receive up-to-date figures on the achievement levels in highers of school leavers by the end of secondary 6—equivalent to those that have been published in Vikki Boliver’s research—to inform their commitment to set minimum entry levels for SIMD 20 students?