Universities call for fairer funding amid virus impact
SCOTLAND’S universities need to be handed a “reliable, sustainable funding settlement to help institutions recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, the industry body has warned.
Universities Scotland, which represents institutions, has called for “maximum support” for the sector, with debt now soaring to record levels.
The organisation is calling on the Scottish Government to make “rapid progress towards sustainable funding of every Scottish-domiciled student” amid the Scottish Funding Council, (SFC), stressing that the country’s higher education sector is facing an overall estimated deficit of £176 million in the 2020-21 academic year.
Universities Scotland said this week’s UK Government Spending Review failed to set out clearly how much money will be available for higher education north of the border, via either additional money announced for research or the Shared Prosperity
Fund.
With the end of the Brexit transition period also looming at the end of December, the organisation stressed the 2021-22 Scottish Budget will be “critical” to the future of higher education.
Professor Gerry Mccormac, the convener of Universities Scotland and principal of the University of Stirling, said Finance Secretary Kate Forbes’ Draft Budget must make progress towards sustainable funding.
He added: “If that cannot be achieved in one leap, we look at least for complete reversal of the £750 per student real-terms erosion in funding since 2014-15.”
The SFC has estimated the public funding of university teaching in 2018-19 was £157m below the full cost of providing this – with university research only funded at 80 per cent of cost.
Mr Mccormac stressed: “Scotland’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic will be education-led”.
He said: “We owe it to our young people to provide maximum support and ensure they have the best educational experience possible in the years ahead.
“To do this, universities need to recover from the financial shock and receive a reliable, sustainable funding settlement from the Scottish Government.
“We are ambitious for Scotland and want to fully contribute to the recovery but the next Budget from the Scottish Government will be critical in terms of addressing the major gaps in higher education funding.”
Mr Mccormac said it is “regrettable that with only days to go” until the the full impact of Brexit is felt when the transition period ends, universities “still have no clarity over our future research relationship with the EU, nor do we know if we will be members of the Erasmus student mobility scheme”.
He added: “Whilst we welcome the commitment that all EU funds will be covered, the lack of detail around the Shared Prosperity Fund is of concern.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The lack of clarity from the UK Government about whether there will or will not be a deal with the European Union and the lack of clarity about Eu-related funding in this week’s UK Government Spending Review creates significant uncertainties for our universities and colleges.
“We know our universities and colleges face significant challenges as a result of the pandemic and we are working closely with them to mitigate the effects of the crisis.”