Fresh look at case for public university

A SERIOUS debate about university funding would indeed be welcome (“We need a serious debate about university funding”, Herald editorial, April 13).

A successful higher education sector based on ground breaking research and top level teaching, and with well paid, dedicated staff could play a pivotal role at the heart of a modern Scottish economy. It can be a key driver for the renewal of our cities, regions and indeed rural areas.

Thankfully we do not have the perverse fees system that plagues the sector elsewhere in the United Kingdom, and the attitude of the current Scottish Government seems much more positive in acknowledging the role of universities in driving growth. The university trade unions, working together with Universities Scotland and NUS Scotland lobbied for adequate funding for Higher Education prior to the budget settlement – an argument which I believe was partly successful in terms of mitigating cuts to the sector – although an average cut in Scottish Funding Council cash of 3.3 per cent was eventually imposed.

Audit Scotland is looking at how higher education is funded and delivered here, and will report some time later this year.

This will give the opportunity for the sector – but more importantly – also for wider Scottish society to re-examine and re-state the modern case for the public university. Dr Douglas Chalmers, President, UCU Scotland, Ingram House, 227 Ingram Street, Glasgow.