Seòmar agus comataidhean

Thank you, convener, and good morning to the witnesses. Thank you for the information that you sent in advance, which is rightly candid and stark in places. It is much appreciated. I also thank you for working in an extremely difficult environment and keeping on keeping on, because the tertiary education sector, as you have all said, is crucial for Scotland.

My question is about the support, or lack of it, that you have had from the Scottish Government and the Scottish Funding Council so far. I go to Shona Struthers first about some of the flexibilities that were given to colleges around credit thresholds. How helpful has that been, and do you need anything further?

Did you ask them why that was?

Did you look at whether that would have an impact on widening access?

What specifically would need to change to allow them to do that?

Sorry, Professor Gillespie, forgive me for interrupting you.

When you say that the difficulty comes when changes are made at the last minute, can you give us an example of what that could be?

That is really helpful. My next question is for both of you on support for articulation for students and whether the Government and the SFC are giving you the right support to ensure that articulation works the way that it should.

I want to explore the theme of widening access a little more. My first question is about the post-1992 universities, which have a particular reputation in respect of widening access. What could the impact be of the reduction in the funding of those universities on widening access?

That is no problem at all, convener—the double barrel is annoying.

Thank you very much for the answers that you have given so far. I want to ask a bit more about some of the allocations. As a starter, I will ask about the allocations to the post-1992 universities. The committee has heard concern about the fact that the cuts have, arguably, fallen disproportionately on those universities, which have quite a history of widening access. A moment ago, you said that widening access is one of the things that you were asked to protect. You have cut the student support budget and you have significantly cut the number of funded places for those institutions. How did you consider the impact on those institutions?

I absolutely will. Can I ask the panel, and particularly Professor Gillespie, what can be done to help institutions that are impacted by the removal of the Scottish Funding Council’s funding towards the increased cost of employer pension contributions?

I will be brief.

The Scottish Funding Council said in its report that there is a risk that 21 per cent of full-time-equivalent staff could be lost in the college sector as a result of the budget and the finances. Will Shona Struthers comment briefly on what the impact of that would be on the sector?