Listen
Future of Crichton Campus
29/08/2007
Crichton Campus in Dumfries has a bright and sustainable future local campaigners heard today.
Education and Lifelong Learning Secretary Fiona Hyslop confirmed the optimistic outlook after meeting students and staff who had campaigned to keep Glasgow University's provision at the campus.
She said:
"The additional support we announced last week doesn't just help retain the courses Glasgow University had been providing, it signals a new era with additional courses for future years.
"In particular, I am pleased to see new opportunities in Initial Teacher Education which will not only help the campus develop over the next few years, but also improve the availability of teachers in the region.
"The provision of an MSc in Carbon Management at the Carbon centre on campus is another new and exciting development which bodes well for the future.
"Those who have fought to maintain quality higher education provision at the Crichton and worked hard to build a long-term future for the campus are to be congratulated.
"Their determination will not only pay dividends for those working here but also for students from the region who wish to study and remain in Dumfries and Galloway after graduation."
Amongst the new opportunities at undergraduate and post-graduate level to be developed at Crichton will be:
- New initital teacher education courses for aspiring primary school teachers
- Health provision, enabling the campus to meet more of the needs of the health sector in its area
- Environmental studies, building on a priority area for Scottish Enterprise Dumfries and Galloway and the unique opportunity created by the plans to establish the Carbon Centre
- Tourism and energy, sectors identified as being important to the regional economy
- Articulation, maximising the advantage created by the relocation of Dumfries and Galloway College
Crichton University Campus was established in 1999 as a partnership between the Universities of Glasgow and Paisley and Bell College to provide higher education for those in rural south west Scotland who would otherwise be unable to access it. The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) supported the early development at Crichton with strategic change grants of £2.3 million towards infrastructure costs and more recently is providing £21.7 million to support the relocation of Dumfries & Galloway College and £5.5 million to improve HE facilities at the Campus. SFC also supported higher education provision in the area by allocating a total of 150 additional funded student places, split between Glasgow (88) and Paisley (62).
University of Glasgow issued a statement on February 14 that its Court had decided not to admit any new undergraduate students to the Crichton campus in 2007. The Court had decided that the University should not subsidise its participation at Crichton and cited an annual deficit of over £800,000.
The Scottish government announced on August 20 that it would provide additional funding of £1.5 million to the Scottish Funding Ciuncil to to support the development of Crichton Campus.