Select committee: Scottish Affairs Committee
Conclusion 17
First Report - Universities and Scotland
Published 28 May 2021
Addressed to Scotland Office
Scottish Affairs Committee Universities and Scotland All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Although there is no formal cap on the number of Scottish students who can study at Scottish universities, in order to budget effectively, the Scottish Government predefines the funding it provides to Scottish universities each year to cover the cost of tuition for Scottish students. This has the result of creating an unofficial cap on the number of Scottish students who can study at Scottish universities each year. According to the Scottish Government: 22 Education spending in the UK, Briefing Paper 1078, House of Commons Library, 4 December 2020 23 Q54 24 “Douglas Ross: Scottish Tories to support free university tuition”, BBC News, 6 October 2020 25 The Scottish Parliament (SPICe Spotlight), ‘The price of free tuition in Scotland’, accessed 24 January 2021 26 Secretary of State at the Scotland Office (USC0011) 27 Audit Scotland, Finances of Scottish universities, September 2019, para 50 Universities and Scotland 11 Each institution is allocated a number of full time equivalent funded places via the Scottish Funding Council for eligible Scottish domiciled [ … ] students on full-time undergraduate courses. The total number of funded places in Scottish universities [was] over 128,200 in 2019–20. International students and those from other parts of the UK [ … ] are not eligible to access the funded places which have been protected for Scottish [ … ] students. To enable flexibility in student recruitment, the Scottish Funding Council allows universities to recruit up to 10% above the number of funded places available. In addition to this, universities are able to offer as many places to [students from other parts of the UK] and international students as they wish.28
From: Scottish Affairs Committee, First Report - Universities and Scotland (HC 54), 28 May 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 27 April 2022 (deadline 28 July 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government's response sets out continued work with the devolved administrations and existing UK-wide policies on international students, immigration, research funding and talent, and states it will submit a response to the earlier Immigration and Scotland report "shortly".
- On the Turing Scheme, it confirmed funding for three years, including "£110 million for the 2022/23 Academic Year". It states the scheme "prioritises pupils, students and learners over staff and inward mobility funding", and says the first year's impact will be evaluated.
- On Erasmus+, it states that President Von Der Leyen "has previously confirmed that association by part of a country is not legally possible".
- On UKRI, it states that Board appointees "are not recruited to represent any constituency, sector or regional grouping", while a legal requirement to have regard to research conditions in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is taken into account. It says Research England's place on the Executive Committee reflects its status as a legal component of UKRI.
- On visa costs, it states that "UK visa fees are broadly in line with our competitors" and that it will "continue to keep visa fees under review".