Anger at new hierarchy for universities and degrees

Published on Thursday 1 October 2009 22:18

FUNDING for university subjects including teacher training, architecture and computing will be slashed by millions of pounds a year in Scotland if new proposals are adopted.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC), which allocates money to universities, has unveiled a scheme to overhaul how much money is provided per subject.

Social sciences and creative arts would get more cash, but architecture, computing and teacher training would lose out.

University principals described the plans as "fundamentally flawed", saying they could hamper Scotland's ability to recover from the recession by taking resources away from key subjects.

Universities receive money for teaching students on a per-head basis, with the amount of cash depending on the subject studied.

Under the new system, universities would receive less cash for geography, psychology, architecture and computing students but more for physics, maths and art students.

Medicine, veterinary studies and engineering would see no change.

The move would have enormous financial implications, particularly for new universities which offer more of the subjects to be cut. SFC statistics show "built environment" subjects, including architecture, would be hit hardest – losing nearly 6m across Scotland, if the plans were approved.

Currently, 26.8m is allocated nationally to the area but, if the proposals go ahead next year, it might only get 20.9m – a drop of 5.9m. Teacher training would also be heavily hit, with funding slashed from 53.1 to 48m, and computing would drop by more than 4.2m.

However, some subjects would see a boost in funding. Social sciences would get an extra 13m – an increase of 23 per cent – and creative arts an extra 3m, a five per cent boost.

That would see Edinburgh College of Art receive a five per cent increase in funding for teaching; Glasgow School of Art would get six per cent more; and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama would receive an extra 12 per cent.

The big losers would be the newer universities, with only Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, of all the post-1992 institutions, seeing its funding increase.

Abertay in Dundee would lose three per cent of teaching funding and Queen Margaret in Edinburgh and Glasgow Caledonian would both lose four per cent.

The SFC says the changes are needed to modernise the system and ensure funding matches the actual cost of each course.

They believe it will prevent growth in areas that receive more money than they need at the expense of others.

However, Professor Bernard King, principal of Abertay University, said the review was "fundamentally flawed".

He said:

"The four institutions that stand to lose most under these proposals are all modern, wider-access universities with higher proportions of students from indigenous working-class backgrounds than the universities that stand to gain."

Dame Joan Stringer, principal of Edinburgh Napier University, another post-1992 university,

said: "These proposals would, in general, do most harm to Scotland's modern universities, which play a major role in developing the economically relevant knowledge and skills which the country will need as it emerges from recession."

And Claire Baker, Labour's higher education spokeswoman, condemned the plan as short-sighted.

She said: "To support Scotland's growth, we will need the next generation of building experts, educationalists and nurses. While the SNP say they are committed to Scotland's teachers, construction industry and health service, they are cutting off funding to train people that will ensure the future prosperity of these sectors."

HOW FUNDING COULD CHANGE

Universities/colleges

Aberdeen 0%

Abertay -3%

Dundee +1%

Edinburgh College of Art +5%

Napier-2%

Edinburgh+2%

Glasgow Caledonian-4%

Glasgow School of Art+6%

Glasgow+1%

Heriot-Watt0%

Open University+2%

Queen Margaret-4%

Robert Gordon+1%

RSAMD+12%

St Andrews+3%

Stirling-1%

Strathclyde-1%

UHI Millennium Institute0%

West of Scotland-2%

Subjects

Clinical and veterinary practice0%

Engineering and technology0%

Science ("group B" – incl chemistry and physics)+4%

Science ("group C" – psychology and geography)-17%

Computing and information science-9%

Pre-clinical (early medicine)+5%

Creative arts and hospitality+5%

Education (teaching)-10%

Other health and welfare-2%

Built environment (architecture)-22%

Mathematics and statistics+23%

Humanities, languages and business+2%

Social sciences (incl economics)+23%