Swinney's spending review adds £75 million to universities' budget

THE SCOTTISH government has announced a fresh round of investment into the nation’s universities with the publication of its annual spending review. The Scottish Spending Review details, announced last week by Finance Secretary John Swinney, reversed last year’s 8 per cent budget cut Scotland’s higher education institutions. The influx of £75m will raise the overall Higher Education budget to around £2 billion.
Despite the provision of over 25,000 extra Modern Apprenticeship places, the review included cuts to further education institutions. The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) will have its FE budget cut from £544.7 million to £470.7million between 2011 and 2014, representing a 13.6 per cent decrease in funding.

The review promised to maintain the number of university and college places, as well as the continuation of the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) scheme. The EMA, which was discontinued by the UK coalition government in England and Wales, costs £31.6 million.
The Scottish government said in the review, “By supporting students, funding Scotland’s universities and colleges and investing in our research base, we will produce the highly skilled workforce of the future that is capable of creating new knowledge.

“The scale of the total reduction in the Scottish government’s budget for this Spending Review has required tough decisions to be taken about expenditure across government and careful consideration of pressures and priorities in all portfolios. There will be a variety of demands on the portfolio’s resources throughout the Spending Review period.
“In order to reduce the level of spending across the portfolio, we have taken a number of difficult decisions. We will accommodate these through savings realised through our review of post-16 learning.”
Robin Parker, president of NUS Scotland, said of the new investment: “"At the last election the Scottish Government committed to increase student support, protect places at college and university, and to rule out tuition fees. This budget confirms that the Scottish Government have listened to students in Scotland, with proposals for a £7000 minimum income for the poorest students, the protection of the EMA for young students and pupils, and the confirmation of plans to keep education free of tuition fees and to increase funds for universities to match funding with universities in England.

"Taken together these proposals are a major step in right direction towards making access to education in Scotland fairer. However, we are very worried by the proposed cuts to colleges over the coming years, and particularly next year. Colleges serve some of the most deprived communities in Scotland, offering an educational lifeline and local access to education to some of the most excluded in our society.”
Matt McPherson, President of Edinburgh University Student’s Association told The Student that “EUSA would call on the Scottish government to recognise that investment in Scotland’s universities and educational institutions is the best long-term solution to the current economic crisis, and that it is essential to maintain the investment they are providing.”