Higher Education for the 21st Century Response to the Garrick Report

7. FUNDING HIGHER EDUCATION IN SCOTLAND

Recommendation 28 - We recommend to the Student Awards Agency for Scotland that it should consider how it might adopt a differential funding methodology for the Access Funds so that resources are better targeted towards those institutions where the students’ need is greatest.

The Government recognises and accepts the principle which lies behind this recommendation. However, it has, in the past, proved extremely difficult to identify any firm basis on which it could be implemented equitably. In order to take account of the social profile of the student body at an institution, information would be required on individual students’ needs. The Government has asked the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) to consider further this matter in allocating access funds for 1998-99. It also announced recently that access funds would be doubled for that year and that part-time students would become eligible to apply for assistance

Recommendation 29 - We recommend to the Secretary of State for Scotland that, if a graduate contribution is introduced, the Secretary of State should ensure that the contribution from Scottish graduates for qualifications gained in Scotland is equitable with the contribution for comparable qualifications gained elsewhere in the UK.

The Government has announced that it supports this recommendation. It believes that the principle of equity should stem from the fact that Scottish domiciled students by and large have school qualifications geared to entry into Scottish higher education institutions. It therefore intends that SAAS should pay the full tuition fee to institutions in the additional, or Honours, year of Scottish degree courses that are longer than comparable courses elsewhere in the UK. The Government’s view is that a significant proportion of students from elsewhere in the UK coming to study in Scotland should be able - as they currently are - to benefit from direct entry into second year by virtue of their A level qualifications where it is appropriate, while many will benefit from the means test which ensures that about 30% of the least well-off students from elsewhere in the UK will pay nothing.