Universities fear fresh cuts for Scottish students as SNP axes pandemic-linked funding for 1,200 places

It comes after higher education spending was slashed by 6 per cent in budget

University chiefs fear further cuts to funding for Scottish students after it was confirmed the Government would no longer support 1,200 extra places created during the pandemic.

Finance secretary Shona Robison said the money for additional places, which were created in the wake of the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) exam results fiasco, was now “unsustainable”.

The Scotsman understands the funding was always meant to be temporary and universities were expecting it to end.

Students during a graduation ceremony. Joe Giddens/PA Wire

However, the cuts are only expected to save around £5 million, which will not come close to plugging a £28.5m shortfall faced by universities in the wake of last month’s Budget.

Alastair Sim, director of Universities Scotland, said: “The budget outcome for universities means there’s a need to find £28.5m of savings from universities’ teaching grants in one year. That forces rock-and-hard place choices for the Scottish Government; either reduce the number of places at university or further deplete how much public funding spent on the education of every Scottish student.

"The availability of places for Scots is at a historic high, but any change to numbers is immediately visible. The other option sits below-the-surface, but exacerbates an already chronic set of pressures facing students, staff and the sustainability of institutions.

"We need a very close dialogue with universities over the coming months to work it through, but the scope for creative solutions to avoid either outcome is very limited given how lean university funding now is.”

A briefing by Universities Scotland to MSPs had earlier highlighted that notes in Budget papers said that “additional savings (are) to be made in the HE [higher education] sector including from reducing first year university places”.

Giving evidence to Holyrood’s finance committee on Tuesday, Ms Robison said: “The media discussion has centred around these 1,200 places. Essentially during Covid, due to the assessment process put in place for assessing Highers at the time – if you remember there was a different process of continual assessment – there was a big spike in those gaining university entrance.

“We used some of our Covid monies to fund those additional 1,200 places for universities in order to address that spike. We maintained those places for two years without Covid funding and kept those places going for two years.

“But that position is an unsustainable one, so that spike due to Covid has to return to pre-pandemic levels.”

The extra money was invested after senior pupils were issued with revised exam results, following an outcry over a notorious algorithm used by the SQA to determine grades after exams were cancelled in 2020.

Ministers promised to “make provision for enough places in universities and colleges to ensure that no one is crowded out of a place they would otherwise have been awarded”.

The Budget cut announced last month comes as universities face a reduction in the number of fee-paying international students they can recruit, in part due to immigration changes being introduced by the UK Government.

Meanwhile, universities say they need more, not less, funding to have a chance of reaching their 2030 target of widening access so that 20 per cent of Scottish entrants should be from the 20 per cent most deprived areas,

Talks are expected to be held between universities and the Scottish Government over coming weeks on how the savings will be made, with more detailed allocations likely to be set in March.

Education secretary Jenny Gilruth hinted at further cuts to higher education in an interview with The Scotsman last year.

Scottish Labour finance spokesman Michael Marra said: “Despite the Government’s own budget document outlining a plan to reduce first year university places, the deputy first minister [Ms Robison] could not say how many places would be cut.

“The fact is that this is an SNP Government mired in incompetence and economic illiteracy that is simply making it up as they go along. The ineptitude of this SNP Government has serious consequences for people’s lives and livelihoods.”

Conservative education spokesman Liam Kerr said: “The SNP’s confirmation that 1,200 fewer university places will be available to Scottish students is a betrayal of our young people. To cut such a significant number of places is a hammer blow for their future opportunities and also means our universities will miss out on gaining talented students.”