Scottish Budget: Colleges and universities face fresh cuts as their budgets are slashed by more than £100m

Sector leader warns of ‘inescapably hard choices’ ahead under SNP-Green spending plans

Colleges and universities in Scotland face a fresh cuts after finance secretary Shona Robison slashed their funding by more than £100 million.

Bosses warned of “inescapably hard choices” ahead as the axe fell on the further and higher education sector at a time when staff have already been fighting for the future of their jobs and courses.

Budget papers showed a £107.4m cut to the budget of the Scottish Funding Council, which distributes grants to colleges and universities, between this year and 2024/25 – a reduction of 5.3 per cent before inflation.

Universities are facing difficult choices

The net college resource budget, used for the bulk of day-to-day spending, is set to fall by £58.7m, or almost 8.4 per cent. For higher education, the resource budget is due to be cut by £48.5m, nearly 6 per cent.

Meanwhile, capital funding, used for building projects, will increase slightly in cash terms, by £2.5m for colleges and by £16.2m for universities.

The UCU Scotland trade union said: "It’s really worrying to see these significant cuts to university and college funding, at a time when we’re already seeing jobs on the line and courses under threat. We should be investing in the future, not making real-terms cuts to our education system.”

Professor Iain Gillespie, convener of Universities Scotland and principal of the University of Dundee, said: “This is a tough budget for higher education, with a 2.7 per cent cash cut overall and close to a 6 per cent cash cut to budgets for teaching.

First Minister Humza Yousaf alongside Deputy First Minister Shona Robison as she outlines the draft budget for 2024-25 in a statement to MSPs in the Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh. Picture date: Tuesday December 19, 2023. PA Photo. See PA story POLITICS Scotland. Photo credit should read: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire

"We do note some protection of higher education capital in cash terms, which we hope will be directed towards research and innovation as a strategic asset in Scotland’s ability to drive sustainable economic growth.

"Overall, this outcome means some inescapably hard choices for universities, with the challenge made all the harder by continuing high inflationary pressures on our costs.

"We will do our best for learners and the vast array of stakeholders in business and civic society, who rely on universities. But the overall settlement makes it more difficult to make our full contribution to the nation’s success.

“Universities are facing serious headwinds in international student recruitment, which means the assumed reliance on cross-subsidy from international fees to compensate for cuts to public funding is likely to leave universities exposed on multiple fronts.”

The higher and further education sector reacted with fury to a £46m funding U-turn by the Government in May, to help finance a pay deal for teachers. Education secretary Jenny Gilruth hinted at further cuts to colleges and universities in an interview with The Scotsman in August.

Elsewhere in the Budget, the Government maintained its commitment to invest £1 billion over the course of the Parliament to tackle the poverty related attainment gap, with £200m to be distributed in 2024/25.

Ms Robison also said it would continue to provide £145.5m to councils to maintain teacher numbers and offer permanent contracts to staff.

Meanwhile, she confirmed the next phase of the expansion of free school meals would be targeted at first to P6 and P7 pupils who are in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment, with £43m of capital investment to expand facilities and provision to begin during 2024/25.

And funding was confirmed for childcare workers in the private, third and independent would pay to get at least £12 per hour from April 2024.

Ms Robison said: “At the heart of this Budget is our social contract with the people of Scotland where those with the broadest shoulders are asked to contribute a little more. Where everyone can have access to universal services and entitlements – and those in need of an extra helping hand will receive targeted additional support.

“This is what we mean when, in the face of Westminster austerity, we say we will always stand up for Scotland.”