Serious consideration needed on future of four-year degrees in Scotland – study

Ministers are being urged to give “serious consideration” to whether Scotland’s four-year university degree courses should continue – with a report saying action is needed to “prevent further meltdowns”.

Former Labour Holyrood minister Des McNulty called for a “broad public debate” on the future of post-school education, insisting here that “nothing should be off the table”.

The former Scottish social justice minister spoke out after the publication of a new paper he produced, along with Huw Morris, an honorary professor of tertiary education at University College London’s Institute of Education.

The report suggested the current funding system means Scottish students are finding admissions processes to elite universities, such as: Glasgow, Edinburgh and St Andrews, “more competitive”.

The number of places that can be offered to Scottish students is “limited by universities’ need to balance the books”, the report said, adding this was done by “maintaining the flow of international and rest-of-UK student fees”.

The report went on to note that Scotland’s four-year university degree system – a year longer than in England – results in “additional costs” for both the public finances and students, with the government required to pay teaching grants for four years rather than three, while students who live away from home have additional living costs for an extra year.

The report said: “Given these pressures, questions about whether the four-year degree represents optimal use of resources merit serious consideration.”

Reform of the four-year degree model to “reduce costs and improve efficiency” could be part of a “comprehensive reform scenario for universities”, the paper stated.

Such a package could also include other “fundamental restructuring options” such as the introduction of a graduate payment mechanism, which could provide “substantial additional revenue”, along with “major institutional restructuring” achieved via mergers to create “fewer, more financially resilient universities”.

But speaking as the report, produced for the think tank Enlighten, was published, Prof Morris insisted that Scotland “can no longer afford to avoid hard questions” on university and college education.

The paper comes in the wake of the “near collapse” of Dundee University, with Prof Morris saying this “ought to have been a crystallising event, generating discussion about hard choices on university funding”.

The paper said there was a “strong suspicion” some of the Scottish Government cash used to keep Dundee University going “came from a budget originally earmarked for Scottish colleges”.

And with the Scottish Government having recently announced it is working with Universities Scotland on a new framework for “sustainability and success” in the sector, Prof Morris said that ministers were “avoiding” looking at other issues affecting it.

“Scotland can no longer afford to avoid hard questions,” the expert said.

He added: “It is now well-established that colleges are on a financial and operational cliff-edge, but the reality is that universities’ dependence on overseas markets means that they are also one sudden shock away from an existential problem.”

With the report claiming that “system failure is more acute in the college sector” than in universities, it stated: “To prevent further meltdowns in the university and college sectors, action is needed.

“Continuation of current policies and funding levels leads to predictable outcomes.

“Universities Scotland projects exceptionally difficult decisions including course closures, mergers, and potential institutional failures within three to five years if trends persist.

“More institutions will require emergency government intervention similar to Dundee, creating ad hoc responses rather than systematic solutions.”

In this scenario, Prof Morris said, it was “regrettable” that the Scottish Government’s review “does not provide a forum for the necessary broader public debate about the future of post-school education, looking at the funding of colleges alongside that of universities”.

This “seems like a missed opportunity”, he added.

Similarly, Mr McNulty, now the chair of the advisory board at the Local Policy Innovation Partnership Hub at the University of Birmingham, said: “We need a broad public debate about the future of post-school education, including its funding and what the current system does and does not contribute to national and regional development.

“Nothing should be off the table.”

Enlighten director Chris Deerin said: “Des McNulty and Huw Morris have given us a very stark warning that kicking the problem into the long grass will only worsen the crisis.

“Colleges and universities are an essential part of Scottish life and it is time to think afresh. Like Enlighten, McNulty and Morris recognise the current system is unsustainable. It’s beyond time politicians started listening.”

The Scottish Government has been contacted for comment.