Fresh blow to Scotland’s universities and colleges as real-terms budget cut branded 'deeply troubling'

Universities and colleges have been dealt a fresh blow after being handed real-terms resource funding cuts in the Scottish budget for next year.

Sector leaders have raised concerns about some of the decisions outlined by Finance Secretary Shona Robison in her spending plans for 2025/26.

It comes after a long spending squeeze that has left the nation’s colleges on the brink, with the sector often described as a “burning platform”.

PIC LISA FERGUSON 07/09/2023. College lecturers protest outside the Scottish Parliament. | NW

Meanwhile, several universities have recently embarked on controversial job-cutting schemes to try to balance the books.

Umbrella body Colleges Scotland said a 1.8 per cent uplift for colleges in the budget fell far short of the 3.2 per cent inflation rate.

The sector has faced a 17 per cent real-terms funding cut since 2021/22, losing 1,700 staff in the last five years.

Colleges Scotland also raised concerns about an “alarming” lack of new money to address a £775 million repair backlog in the nation’s colleges, including for the seven which have been found to contain reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac), a collapse-prone construction material.

For universities, Ms Robison said she was raising funding by 3.5 per cent. However, half of the money is being redirected from existing spending.

Claire McPherson, Director of Universities Scotland, said: “The Scottish Government has responded to the sector’s request to re-direct £14million of existing spend, from Covid-era student places, to increase the amount which can be spent on each student place.

“We welcome that. When combined with new investment of £12.9 million, this could mean a 3.5 per cent increase in the investment made in each Scottish student.

“However, the overall resource budget for universities is not rising by 3.5 per cent. Today’s outcome represents a 0.7 per cent real terms cut in HE (higher education) resource.”

She added: “The last decade of public funding decisions has left the sector in a precarious state with no scope to insulate our students or staff from these pressures any longer.

“It’s an immensely difficult place for the sector to be in. Universities are an integral part of Scotland’s future, but a weakened university sector will put the Scottish Government’s ambitions at risk.”

Dr Graeme Jackson, interim CEO of Colleges Scotland, said: “This draft budget utterly fails to recognise the vital role colleges play in driving economic growth, reducing poverty, and strengthening communities.

“Leaving colleges millions of pounds short is unacceptable. The Scottish Government’s continued disinvestment in such a cornerstone of the education and skills sector is deeply troubling.”

Elsewhere in the Budget, Ms Robison announced £3m for a pilot of a scheme called “Bright Start Breakfasts” that will deliver more breakfast clubs in primary schools across Scotland.

A further £29m was found for a plan to offer greater support to children with Additional Support Needs (ASN), in order to deliver “measures like training so that more of our teachers can become ASN teachers”.

Meanwhile, the budget statement says only that it “can maintain teacher numbers at 2023 levels”, with no mention of the previous SNP promise to recruit an additional 3,500 school staff.

A pledge to cut teachers class contact time was also absent from the spending plans, which could leave the Government facing a formal dispute with trade unions.

However, it did contain a commitment to “invest in Scotland’s teachers and funding initiatives which address the challenges facing the education workforce, including supporting new teachers into the profession”.