Uni challenge

Published on 13/07/2012 00:00

Robin McAlpine’s exposition of the argument for collegial governance in Scotland’s universities (Perspective, 11 July) is a welcome contribution to what – as he fails to point out – is a debate already taking place in the realm of practical politics. Much of what he says is in tune with the thrust of the report on university governance by the panel set up by the Scottish Government and chaired by Robert Gordon University principal, Ferdinand von Prondzynski. This was published this year and is available (along with all the evidence submitted to it) on the Scottish Government website.

The report – currently under detailed scrutiny by cabinet secretary Michael Russell – makes a range of concrete proposals.

McAlpine may wish they had gone further and in that would find support in many 
of the views submitted to the von Prondzynski team by academics and organisations representing them, support staff and students.

It is to be hoped McAlpine’s article will fuel debate, perhaps starting from his propositions that “universities matter in a way banks never will” and that the future of Scottish universities should involve entrusting their governance to “the community that properly understands [their] purpose in society”.

Such a debate is important for all who see higher education as a key element in Scotland’s democracy, particularly as the Scottish Government draws its recommendations from the von Prondzynski recommendation.

Terry Brotherstone

Dundas Street

Edinburgh