Seòmar agus comataidhean

Shona Struthers, may I bring you in on what Karen Watt calls the M-word? Is the M-word being used in the sector? Is it something that the sector is fearful of, or welcoming of?

Those are young people who have had less learning in school in the past couple of years. The SQA is telling us that colleges should make up that gap. Is that what is being experienced by colleges across Scotland?

That adds to what was said in some previous answers about opportunity costs. Other pressures are coming to bear.

We have heard about 25 per cent cuts to staffing in some colleges. I take it that we are not going to get firm figures, but the committee would appreciate some form of feedback based on the written reports that Karen Watt has received from the colleges. In three years’ time, given those challenges and the funding cuts that are coming, will the sector look anything like it does now?

You are describing possible mergers between universities and colleges, are you not?

It is quite clear—

I know that a lot of that work is going on—for example, in Aberdeen, where the relationship between Robert Gordon University and the local college has been cited, but I know from speaking to both those organisations that merger is very far off their agenda and they see a huge cost in that. Given that theirs is one of the more advanced relationships, where does the merger issue come up? You are shaking your head.

The rate of completions and the number of students who do not get to the end of their courses are a concern not just for this committee but for the Public Audit Committee, which has expressed its concerns to us. Just under a third of students are failing to complete their courses. The figure is higher among those from deprived backgrounds, higher again for students with disability and significantly higher for students who have been through the care system. Given the financial settlement that we are looking at, how can we improve the outcomes for those young people?

That is very useful, and my final question is on a related issue. The committee struggled for a little while with comparisons with the rest of the United Kingdom in this matter, and the Scottish Parliament information centre produced some information for us on that. The system in England is very different, but the nearest comparable figure for completion rates there seems to be 89 per cent. Will some means of comparison be included in the methodology that you are talking about? Do you have any reflections on why that gap, whether it is perceived or real, might be so big?

I am keen to ask about the focus on the long term. You mentioned research capture from UKRI. The trend in that is not going in a good direction. It is going down, is it not, Professor Boyne?

I agree with the comments about the doomsday cult at Westminster and the budget approach that the UK Government is taking, but one reason for the Scottish Government having a big gap in its funding is its failure to grow the Scottish economy, which means that there are hundreds of millions of pounds in lost tax revenue. You talked about the need for a bigger pie. How important are universities to growing the size of the Scottish economy and growing our tax receipts?