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Universities and colleges
26/10/2007
Universities and colleges across Scotland are to receive an extra £100 million capital funding package, it was announced today.
Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning Fiona Hyslop said:
"This government is serious about supporting our colleges and universities. We are determined that Scottish money, held on account at Westminster, should be used to meet Scottish priorities. That is why we are choosing to invest these funds in Scottish universities and colleges.
"The package will offer immediate support to colleges across the length and breadth of Scotland including projects at Anniesland, Langside and Motherwell. It will also allow progress to be made on forthcoming projects at Dundee, Inverness, Forth Valley and Kilmarnock.
"Paisley University's Ayr campus and Glasgow School of Art will also be able to progress proposals in the pipeline.
"The investment, which is in addition to any settlement from the forthcoming spending review, will also support our plans to create a Smarter Scotland by helping to expand opportunities for Scots to succeed."
Chair of the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council John McClelland said:
"This additional investment by the Scottish Government is very welcome. It will help the Council to accelerate its capital programme, address backlog problems and provide modern, sustainable facilities in our colleges and universities, which are attractive to students and businesses."
David Caldwell, Chief Executive of Universities Scotland, said:
"We welcome the Scottish Government's decision to advance its investment in higher education. Scotland's future economic strength depends on the high quality graduates and leading edge research which universities provide, and our students and researchers need state of the art accommodation and equipment to maximise the return. This investment will help to keep Scottish higher education at the forefront, and it will produce a vital return in public and economic benefit."
Howard McKenzie, Acting Chief Executive Association of Scotland's Colleges said :
"We welcome this announcement with vigorous enthusiasm as its timing is, from our perspective, almost perfect. This funding means that projects that have been awaiting funding for some time can now progress, and those that are 'next in line' can move further up the queue - benefiting everyone.
"Ultimately, however, the real winners from today's announcement will be Scotland's students who will see a direct benefit in terms of the facilities and equipment available to them '
The £100 million capital funding comes from drawdown of Scottish Government End-Year Flexibility balances held by the Treasury
The investment will support Anniesland, Langside and Motherwell colleges and will enable Dundee, Forth Valley, Inverness and Kilmarnock colleges to make progress during the SSR07 period.
In turn this will also allow earlier progress on other potential projects in the pipeline including Aberdeen, Banff & Buchan and Moray. On the HEI side, this will help to fund the developments at University of Paisley Ayr campus and Glasgow School of Art as well as helping to address the significant remaining backlog recently highlighted in a report by Audit Scotland.