Scottish universities face shortfall under Labour
Labour plans to provide only £38 million per year towards an estimated £202 million annual funding gap that must be filled if Scottish universities are to retain their international standing.
Iain Gray's Scottish Labour manifesto promises to provide only #38 million of the extra #202 million Scottish universities need
By Simon Johnson and Peter Hutchison 11:15AM BST 07 Apr 2011
Iain Gray, the party’s Holyrood leader, insisted the remainder of the money could be raised by charging foreign students higher fees, making increased ‘efficiency savings’ and gifts from rich Scots.
But a report compiled by an expert group for Scottish ministers suggested these elements would be nowhere near enough to fill the gap, prompting warnings that universities would have to cut courses and student numbers.
The plans was included in Labour’s Holyrood election manifesto, unveiled at Clydebank College, which made extra spending commitments totalling more than £815 million over the next four years.
Despite cuts to the Scottish block grant of about £2 billion over the same period, Mr Gray also promised his party would abolish youth unemployment in the next parliament.
The Labour leader said he plans to fund his spending spree by finding almost £5 billion of ‘efficiency’ savings in the public sector.
These include creating a single Scotland-wide police force and fire brigade and making the country’s 32 councils share services and backroom functions.
But opposition parties said the manifesto’s policies were based on extremely optimistic assumptions and university leaders dismissed the basis of the higher education funding pledge.
The launch of the manifesto, titled ‘Fighting for what really matters’, was delayed after a fire alarm was sounded in college, forcing dozens of attendees to evacuate and stand in heavy rain.
Unveiling the document following the delay, Mr Gray said: “This is a serious document for serious times and I’m a candidate for First Minister of my country because I think we need a serious government.”
He said youth unemployment would be abolished by guaranteeing school leavers an apprenticeship, setting up a new jobs fund and investing in industries like renewable energy.
Promising not to ask for a graduate contribution from Scottish students, Mr Gray added: “We will knock down barriers to access rather than build them up.”
But an appendix to the manifesto, detailing his spending plans, revealed that Labour has allocated only £38 million extra per year for higher education from the 2012/13 academic year.
An expert funding group has calculated an extra £491 million must be found between 2012 and 2015 if Scottish universities are not to fall behind their English competitors.
This includes £202 million in 2014/15 alone. Mr Gray’s spending plans leaves a cumulative £377 million shortfall over the three academic years.
A Labour spokesman chose to use slightly lower estimates, which do not include inflation, but insisted the shortfall could be largely filled by charging students from the EU and rest of the UK more.
This assumes the same number English students come north of the Border despite plans to more than treble their fees to £6,300.
Mr Gray wants to raise £22 million from EU students despite European law banning discrimination on the grounds of nationality.
His spokesman also confirmed Labour’s calculations include £26 million of efficiency savings. He claimed savings could also be found from a ‘root-and-branch’ review of higher education.
But Alastair Sim, director of Universities Scotland, called for “realism”, adding: “Efficiency savings are not a gap-closer because English universities are going after these savings too and charging students from the rest of the UK is not a magic bullet as increased fees will affect demand.
“We have just come out of one review process and are concerned that the potential timescales of a new review would mean Scottish universities start to fall behind those in England if the funding gap isn’t addressed immediately.”
He warned failing to close the gap would mean student numbers being cut and the quality of university education being affected. Mr Gray’s spokesman later insisted that any shortfall would be met from the public purse.
However, the manifesto appendix also shows no extra funding has been allocated for another keynote policy, to create a ‘national care service’ in the NHS. Mr Gray argued the costs can be met from existing budgets.
Similarly, Labour has allocated only £250,000 for a shared equity scheme to help first-time buyers, assuming instead that housing developers will bear all the costs.
Derek Brownlee, Scottish Tory finance spokesman, said: “It appears they did a bit of hasty adding up on Monday afternoon to give their manifesto some air of substance.
“It’s reliant on a series of optimistic assumptions without much evidence of serious consideration, particularly on university funding.”
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