Select committee: Scottish Affairs Committee
Conclusion 70
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)
Richard Lochhead MSP, Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science, told us that: We have recognised that the pandemic is making life so difficult for many students. [ … ] we have been [ … ] working really hard with our colleges and universities to distribute discretionary hardship funds to make sure those most in need are able to access assistance. We announced £5 million to top up the existing funds just before Christmas [2020], and of course a few days ago we announced a further £30 million, which will be £10 million to help the universities, given that they have already offered students in halls of residences, in most cases, refunds or cancellations, which will lead to loss of income for universities. Also, £20 million will go direct to the institutions for topping up the hardship funds.163 In evidence to us about decisions made by the Scottish Government at the start of the university term in 2020, Minister Lochhead stated that: “I reiterate that we apologise to our students for what they went through last September, as we apologised at the time”.164
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".