Hansard

I congratulate Elaine Murray on lodging the motion and I echo her warm welcome to those who have made the journey up from the south-west for the debate.

Let us be in no doubt that yesterday's decision by the court of the University of Glasgow not to admit an undergraduate intake in September has confirmed our growing fear that the credibility of the Crichton university campus project is now at crisis point. The decision represents a major step towards the University of Glasgow's complete withdrawal from the campus, taking with it not just the various high-quality courses and research that it provides but, almost more important, the gravitas, recognition and acceptability that that university brings with it.

It is said by some—regrettably the funding council appears to be among them—that it does not matter because the other partners will expand to take up the slack, so we do not need Glasgow. However, few who say that live in south-west Scotland. They feel betrayed, humiliated and patronised by what is happening and some of what is being said.

Why is the University of Glasgow's presence so important to the project? It is because of Professor Sir Graeme Davis's vision for a new type of higher education on the Crichton campus that would reflect the changing world of business today. Did he succeed? Let me read from an e-mail that I received at the end of January:

"I am a product of this very campus. If I can be so bold as to say so, I am an exemplar product of which this university campus aims to produce. By this I mean I am a young student who moved to Dumfries, from a big city, specifically to study at this chosen campus due to its unique variety of degree paths and course options. I have subsequently found employment in Dumfries and Galloway and have been able to put areas of my degree to good use. Is this not what is wanted from such a campus? Am I not living proof that this campus produces employable young graduates?"

Surely that says all that needs to be said about the campus's relevance for students.

What about the relevance to the local economy and the region's social needs of the research and courses that the University of Glasgow provides? That is something else on which the funding council appears to pour scorn. A well-known and respected constituent of mine stated in an e-mail that I received:

"Since returning to Galloway seven years ago I have been involved in four areas of activity: children's panel, community development, art heritage research and political activity. In each of these areas Glasgow University at the Crichton is relevant to my work. We are desperately in need of social workers in Dumfries & Galloway. The University is training social workers at the Crichton. As a Communities Scotland mentor I am working with several communities in D and G. In my current and previous project we involved research staff from the Crichton in our work. In my art research I work closely with Glasgow University staff concerned with the cultural identity of South West Scotland. At a time when a lot is being done to enhance Highland identity and sense of well being, the role of Ted Cowan and others in enhancing our identity cannot be underestimated."

The University of Glasgow's continued presence on the Crichton campus is critical to fulfilling the fantastic potential of the whole project.

Last year, Nicol Stephen said in reply to a question from Elaine Murray:

"The Crichton campus has been a great success story for all of Dumfries and Galloway and I want to do what I can to encourage its future development."

In response to a supplementary question that I asked, Nicol Stephen said:

"The success of the Crichton campus has brought provision to an area that traditionally has been underrepresented in higher education. We need to do more rather than less."—[Official Report, 19 January 2006; c 22574-75.]

I whole-heartedly agree with that. Only two weeks ago, in response to a question that I asked at First Minister's question time, the First Minister said:

"the Deputy First Minister and I both whole-heartedly support not just the maintenance of the campus but its improvement and development."—[Official Report, 1 February 2007; c 31731.]

The First Minister reiterated that to Dr Murray today.

If what is happening at the Crichton were happening at the UHI Millennium Institute, there would be a traffic jam of ministerial cars heading up the A9 to sort it out. That institute provides liberal arts courses, but we are being asked to accept that there is no place for such courses in the lives of citizens of the south of Scotland, who I presume are seen as second-class citizens.

I believe that the University of Glasgow wants to stay at the Crichton in the long term but that the funding council does not want it to stay there. I firmly believe that only direct ministerial intervention can sort out the problem. In the light of the robust quotations that I have read out, ministers must act now. It is time for the Government to put up or shut up. There is a time to be a hands-on Government, and that time has surely come.