Recommendation 21

Scottish Funding Council (SFC) grants made up the second highest income source in 2017–18. This has also remained the case in subsequent years.35 Karen Watt, Chief Executive of the Scottish Funding Council, told us that although Scottish Funding Council funding represents about 30% of the whole sector’s total income, reliance on their funding varies very much below the surface.36 To illustrate this point she informed us that: [ … ] the University of the Highlands and Islands [ … ] relies quite heavily on [SFC] funding—69% of its funds come from the Scottish Funding Council—whereas the University of St Andrews has a very low reliance, at 15% of total funds.37