Select committee: Scottish Affairs Committee
Conclusion 141
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)
Rachel Sandison, University of Glasgow, told us that Scottish international research is a powerful tool for international collaboration and connections, with 57% of publications currently involving international collaboration, so “ensuring that the framework exists to allow that success to continue is going to be absolutely mission critical”.332 The Scottish Government website lists some of Scotland’s major current international research collaborations.333 324 Q137 325 Universities Scotland, ‘Internationalisation is top of the agenda for Scottish universities’, accessed 26 April 2021 326 Universities Scotland, Internationally Scottish - Creating global communities (July 2020) 327 RSE Young Academy of Scotland (USC0006) p 2 328 RSE Young Academy of Scotland (USC0006) p 3 329 Universities Scotland, Internationally Scottish - Creating global communities (July 2020), p 10 330 RSE Young Academy of Scotland (USC0006) p 3 331 Q94 332 Q175 333 Scottish Government, ‘Science and research: University research’, accessed 26 April 2021 54 Universities and Scotland UK immigration policy: international research collaboration
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".