Revealed: How SNP minister intervened in shake-up of the University of the Highlands and Islands

Colleges must be driving the proposed restructuring of the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI), a Scottish Government minister has warned.

Graeme Dey, the minister for further and higher education, told The Scotsman how he had made it clear to bosses at the institution that local colleges should be taking the lead in an ongoing overhaul.

He made the remarks after it emerged both UHI Inverness and UHI Perth, the two biggest colleges in the university network, have been raising concerns behind the scenes about reform plans, which focus on operating more like a “single institution”.

Mr Dey also insisted there was no threat to the concept of UHI, which was awarded university status in 2011 after a long campaign to create an institution that would allow young residents to stay and study degree-level courses in the region.

“Long before any of this became a public issue, I met with both the then acting principal and the chair of UHI, and I met with the college principals,” the minister said in an exclusive interview.

“We laid the foundations of the conversations, because my concern was what was originally being proposed by UHI wasn’t as bottom up as I would have expected it to be.

“I thought it needed to be driven by the colleges. They have the knowledge of the localities, they are already collaborating with each other - they recognise that you can’t deliver everything in every locality, and there are already arrangements being developed there.

“I was quite heartened by the positivity from the principals to those messages. Subsequent to that, they’ve looked to develop those proposals a bit further, the situation at Moray and Shetland has emerged, the scale of the challenges there. All of which has formed the background to all of this.

“But at the heart of this is, UHI as a concept is not up for discussion. UHI and what it delivers is hugely important to Scotland.

“And it is imperative, insofar as it is possible, we deliver appropriately in all of those settings.”

Mr Dey added: “I’ve met most of the principals there, I’ve visited a number of the colleges, and we are absolutely committed to supporting both the concept of UHI, but developing that long-term sustainable model, one that the colleges, with knowledge of their communities, are driving.”