Departing principal makes her complaints plain to all

OUTGOING St Andrews University principal Louise Richardson is departing for Oxford hurling brickbats at the Scottish Government over interference. The most recent complaint has been about plans to require trade union representation on university courts, but St Andrews has also been reluctant to embrace demands to widen access to learners from poorer backgrounds.

Irked by complaints that private school pupils make up 40 per cent of its intake – despite the fact private schools only educate one in 20 children – Mrs Richardson says too few pupils from less privileged backgrounds are achieving the necessary qualifications.

Glasgow Caledonian University takes a position diametrically opposed to hers. As winners of two previous Herald Society Awards, their Caledonian Club may already be wellknown to readers of this column.

The Caley Club engages with those from non-traditional backgrounds to make them aspire to higher education, give them an insight into what is involved and making them comfortable with university surroundings. Since 2008, nursery and primary age pupils have been encouraged into the Glasgow campus to help shape their attitudes, and just as importantly, those of their parents.

This summer a newly launched initiative, Families Learning Together, will bring 100 pupils from five partner primary schools, and their parents and extended family members, to the university for a week of educational activities.

Does it work? It seems to. Never mind private school backgrounds, 12 per cent of GCU entrants come from the schools in Scotland where pupils were previously the least likely to get a higher education. Meanwhile, 73 per cent of undergraduates are the first in their families ever to attend a university.

University autonomy is a good principle, and Mrs Richardson is right to say the diversity of institutions is one of the strengths of the system. “It is important we allow those differences to flourish rather than trying to treat all universities as if they are the same,” she told The Herald.

Educational opportunities begin to diverge from an early age, but it is simply wrong to say universities can do nothing about it.