Hansard

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this short but important stage 3 debate on the University of St Andrews (Degrees in Medicine and Dentistry) Bill. I thank the clerks and everyone else for their work on the bill, as well as committee colleagues and the cabinet secretary and her team. Jeane Freeman has demonstrated complete competence during the current parliamentary session, especially during the pandemic.

The bill, which is technical in nature, will remove the unfair and anticompetitive prohibition that prevents the University of St Andrews from awarding medicine and dentistry degrees. It is the only university in Scotland that has that prohibition. In doing that, the bill will repeal a section of the Universities (Scotland) Act 1966 that prevents the university from offering medicine and dentistry degrees. That is welcome, because it affords the University of St Andrews equality in competition and educational opportunity.

As deputy convener of the Health and Sport Committee, I was involved in scrutiny of the bill at stage 1. The committee produced a short report on the bill that contained only one recommendation, which was that we should overwhelmingly support the general principles of the bill.

During the committee’s discussion of the bill, we also considered evidence on NHS recruitment and widening access to studying medicine. The bill prompted discussion of the potential for a new medical school to be established. The Covid pandemic has prevented work on establishing a new school, so I welcome the cabinet secretary’s commitment on that. I will continue to raise awareness of the work that is being done in Dumfries and Galloway for a new medical school potentially to be sited at the Crichton campus. I ask the cabinet secretary to keep that in mind as we move forward. I am sure that her replacement will continue to work on that. I will continue to engage with Jeane Freeman’s replacement and local campaigners on that.

Our passing the bill will allow the university to award a joint degree with the University of Dundee for the purposes of the ScotGEM programme. It is Scotland’s first graduate entry programme for medicine, with a rural medicine focus, and the first cohort of students is expected to graduate in 2022. If the bill is not passed, their degrees will be awarded by the University of Dundee, despite the important work of the University of St Andrews. The timing of the bill is therefore welcome, because it will enable the University of St Andrews to award the degree jointly with the University of Dundee, as was promised to the ScotGEM students, who are very excited about the joint primary medicine qualification.

The committee heard how passionately ScotGEM students feel about their unique identity as students of both universities; I therefore encourage members to support the bill’s passage. I welcome the bill and its implications for the University of St Andrews and for ScotGEM students, many of whom are currently training across Dumfries and Galloway. I hear that they are doing a great job.