|
|
Home
|
Some students paying for degrees a "logical" step |
|
|
|
Wednesday, 30 May 2007 |
The option of some students paying to study for degrees in Scottish universities is a logical one, according to chief executive of the Scottish Funding Council Roger McClure, who also suggested that universities could offer shorter courses as well as degrees.
McClure, speaking at Holyrood magazine's Higher Education and the
Economy conference, said that there was little scope to decrease
university costs, as the main option would be to have fewer staff for
more students, and rely much more on ICT. This was not preferred by
students, he said.
The Scottish system is expensive because of a high participation rate
and a relatively long degree, but it is unlikely to get a great deal of
extra funding because of other competing priorities for public
funding, he said.
Universities could attempt to earn more, for example through knowledge
transfer, but this means of generating income is a grafted on role for
universities, and earnings are unpredictable and insufficient in scale
to solve the problem of university funding, McClure added.
Other sources of revenue included employers, who were thought to be
reluctant to pay for general courses rather than job-specific training,
and benefactors, whose donations are unpredictable and who can impose
constraints
The final option available is to generate money from students. While,
McClure said, access to higher education shuold be based on ability to
benefit not pay, "it doesn't follow that no-one should contribute".
The contribution that graduates make to the public good should be
weighed up against private returns, and he also said that student loans
should not necessarily be thought of as "debts" as they were contigent
on students reaching a certain income before having to pay them back.
"We wouldn't talk about income tax as a debt," he pointed out.
He said that there should be some thought about the future utility of
the three to four year linear degree programme, and suggested that
there could be smaller chunks of study with defined outcomes that could
be offered by universities.
This, he added, could mean increasing the participation rate of
students, but creating a smaller system, and with higher unit funding
from the same budget.
McClure also questioned whether free access to higher education should
necessarily mean free degrees. However, he did stress that he was
floating ideas and thinking, rather than calling for any specific way
forward.
At the same conference, Dr Brian Lang, the principal of St Andrew's
University, called for a thorough review of higher education funding,
with a graduate tax as one option under consideration. He did stress,
however, that "social justice was non-negotiable", and said that a
graduate tax could be related to the earning advantage conferred by a
degree.
"Hedge fund managers could pay more than charity workers," he explained.
He said that if Scotland fell behind England in terms of funding, it would take "many, many years to catch up".
"Catching up is very much more difficult than remaining in the lead.
What are universites for? What is the funding mix? We really need to
sort this out now."
Conservative MSP Liz Smith, the party's spokesman on schools and
skills, said that the whole system of student finance needed to be
reviewed. "Political acceptability might have to take the back seat,
and I say that as a politician.
"Something has got to change... We have to look at graduate tax,
although I do have problems with this idea, and also top-up fees. It is
not politically attractive, but tough decisions have to be made."
However Dr Bill Wilson, speaking on behalf of the SNP, said that he
thought it was still achievable to write off the graduate endowment,
and said he still believed that paying off student debt was financially
viable.
No one has commented on this article.
Related news items:
|
|
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 30 May 2007 )
|
Featured sites
Visual Arts and Galleries Association
VAGA, the Visual Arts and Galleries Association is a professional membership body representing the interests of organisations and individuals concerned with the exhibition, interpretation and development of modern and contemporary visual art on behalf of the public.
Click here to visit this site
Site news...
Translate holyrood.com: We are now testing Google translation on holyrood.com, for more information on this service click here . We hope this will improve access for our international visitors and clients. Let us know what you think at
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
|
|
|
