JOINT FUTURE THINKING TASKFORCE ON UNIVERSITIES: MEETING 7
TUESDAY 23 SEPTEMBER 2008 12.30 TO 14.30
Carlton Hotel, Edinburgh
NOTE OF MEETING
Present
Fiona Hyslop MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning
Sir Muir Russell, Principal of University of Glasgow
Anton Muscatelli, Convener of Universities Scotland and Principal of Heriot-Watt University
Bernard King, Vice-Convener of Universities Scotland and Principal of University of Abertay Dundee
Sir Tim O'Shea, Principal of University of Edinburgh
Pamela Gillies, Principal of Glasgow Caledonian University
David Caldwell, Director of Universities Scotland
Seona Reid, Director of Glasgow School of Art
John McClelland, Chair of Scottish Funding Council
Mark Batho, Chief Executive of Scottish Funding Council
Laurence Howells, Director of Learning Policy and Strategy, Scottish Funding Council
Stephen Noon, Senior Policy Adviser
Andrew Scott, Director of Lifelong Learning
Stephen Kerr, Head of HE and Learner Support
Claire Woodward-Nutt, Head of HE Futures and Research (Secretariat)
1. Welcome
1.1 As chair, Sir Muir Russell welcomed members of the Taskforce.
2. Stakeholder engagement
( http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/UniversitiesColleges/16640/hetaskforce)
2.1 Stephen Kerr described the stakeholder engagement phase over the summer. The summit in August was attended by 130 people - their contributions were summarised on the website. Written comments had also been received from 21 organisations:
- 7 HEIs plus Committee of Chairs of Scottish Higher Education Institutions
- 6 from student representative bodies
- 2 from trade unions
- 5 others, including Association of Scotland's Colleges and Scottish Enterprise
2.2 Responses to New Horizons were largely positive and supportive. Most supported the broad framework set out and agreed with the issues identified. There were some criticisms of the process itself, especially by trades unions and student representative bodies.
2.3 While it was agreed that responses were largely supportive, there were a number of concerns that required to be addressed explicitly. For example, the Committee of Chairs of Scottish Higher Education Institutions and some universities stressed the need for the General Fund to cover all core activities and for the Horizon Fund to be relatively small. While the need for universities to align their activities to the Government's purpose was recognised, it was important to stress that this related to publicly-funded activities only and not to everything they do.
2.4 The Cabinet Secretary confirmed that Cabinet had endorsed New Horizons at its meeting last week. It was noted that, in the current volatile economic climate, it was particularly important that universities were well placed to contribute to the major economic challenges we face.
3. SFC's review
3.1 John McClelland and Mark Batho described the review carried out by the Funding Council over the summer. Its work had been based meticulously on the framework set out in New Horizons with reference to three key principles:
- The Scottish Government's investment in learning and teaching, research and knowledge exchange activities should maintain broad overall comparability with the rest of the UK;
- The universities accept the challenge of using Government funds to deliver against the national outcomes, thereby aligning publicly funded activity against the Scottish Government's Purpose and Strategic Objectives;
- The Funding Council's regulation would be relaxed and a new 'lighter touch' approach adopted to managing the relationship with institutions.
3.2 It was confirmed that the commitment to overall comparability with the rest of the UK was based on the total Scottish Government funding in both the General and Horizon Funds, and in the case of teaching also including tuition fees. It would be helpful to ensure that the Horizons Fund was included as part of the baseline of the spending review. Funding through both the General and the Horizon Funds was intended to support alignment with the purpose of increasing sustainable economic growth. It was important to ensure that a lighter touch approach was reflected in the new arrangements. The role of the governing bodies was seen as critical in taking things forward.
3.3 The Taskforce supported the rationale for a new approach, but the language used to communicate this needed careful consideration to avoid misinterpretation.
3.4 The Scottish Funding Council's meeting with Universities Scotland on 30 September provided an opportunity for further discussion and agreement on the new arrangements, shifting the high level principles set out in New Horizons into an implementation phase. There were time constraints involved in this - the Funding Council was planning to discuss its next year's budget in November.
4. Tripartite Advisory Group
4.1 Stephen Kerr presented an initial draft of the terms of reference for the group. It was important to consider this in the context of wider engagement. The FHE Roundtable was a key forum for discussion of issues across the tertiary sector and the Cabinet Secretary was keen to ensure it remained open, robust and challenging by having a more focused membership.
4.2 The Taskforce agreed that the remit should match the description set out in New Horizons "to offer advice on …". With regard to membership, the universities indicated that they would require a minimum of four representatives in order to be able to include representation from the Chairs of governing bodies, and that it would be helpful if a slightly larger number could be accommodated. It was noted, however, that the Scottish Government and the Scottish Funding Council were content with the proposed maximum of four representatives from each party, and that it was desirable to avoid the group becoming too large. The first meeting of the group would finalise the terms of reference.
5. Next steps
5.1 While New Horizons was adopted in principle, further discussion between the Funding Council and Universities Scotland was needed to finalise the arrangements and to operationalise the principles.
5.2 Stephen Kerr and David Caldwell agreed to work together to develop a final written update clarifying how the Taskforce has responded to the issues and concerns raised by stakeholders. A further meeting of the Taskforce was unlikely, although there would be a need to agree the timing and form of any public announcement.
Scottish Government
September 2008