Seòmar agus comataidhean

By consulting on these issues later this year, we will open up a number of other possible scenarios. Should another option emerge as a preferred approach then this will be factored into our efficiency projections accordingly.

These arrangements will ensure that there are no reductions in the volumes or quality of learning and research associated with funding for universities and colleges as a result of the efficient government programme.

This measure will contribute to Scottish ministers overall target of delivering a 2% increase in cash-releasing efficiencies each year amounting to £1.6 billion in 2010-11.

Source: Student receiving support SAAS, higher education students Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and Scottish Funding Council (SFC). Student numbers are rounded to the nearest five and percentages to the nearest whole number.

Notes:

[1] “Students receiving any support” includes Scottish students studying at institutions elsewhere in the UK and EU domiciled students. “Any support” refers to tuition fees, tuition fee loans, awards or maintenance loans.

[2] “All Higher Education students at Scottish institutions” include part-time students, international students and all postgraduate students studying in Scotland, not all of whom are eligible for funding from SAAS.

Students receiving full support have been defined as those who are:

1. Receiving the maximum Young Students bursary,

2. The maximum Young Students Outside Scotland bursary,

3. The maximum Students Outside Scotland bursary,

4. Aged 25 or over and are receiving maximum maintenance loan, or

5. Aged less than 25, are exempt from parental or spousal contribution to their support and are receiving maximum maintenance loan.

Nursing and Midwifery bursary scheme students are not included in the numbers receiving support from SAAS. Figures for academic year 2007-08 are not yet available.

Irrespective of how earnings may rise in the next three years, the number of Scottish students receiving support would be unaffected as under current funding rules all eligible students are entitled to at least a non-means tested loan. The table below provides data on the number of Scottish students receiving SAAS support in 2006-07 by parental/spousal residual income after allowable deductions. The table also shows how these data would look if average earnings rose by 3.1% (figure based on growth in average median weekly earnings in the year to April 2007) in each of the subsequent three years. In 2006-07, 114,610 Scottish students received some form of support.

Source: SAAS

Notes:

Constant Student Numbers are assumed.

The total number of students in the system has not changed.

Student numbers have been rounded to the nearest five.

The latest year for which data are available for students receiving some form of support is for 2006-07. The table below provides data on the number of Scottish students receiving support from Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) in 2006-07 by parental/spousal residual income after allowable deductions. In 2006-07, 114,610 Scottish students received some form of support.

Source: SAAS.

Note: Student numbers have been rounded to the nearest five and monetary amounts to the nearest 1,000.

(a) Higher Education Institutions:

Each year the Scottish Funding Council funds a number of places, expressed as full-time equivalents (FTE), in universities and other higher education institutions (HEIs), these are generally available to UK and other EU residents. HEIs are independent bodies who are free to recruit further students, from outside the EU when they can charge the full cost of providing the course, or, within certain limits, from within the EU when they would still be able to claim fees from the Student Awards Agency for full time students.

The following table shows the number of funded places for undergraduates and taught postgraduates at Scottish HEIs, and the number of students eligible for funding for the last four academic years.

Source: Scottish Funding Council; funded places includes places funded by the Scottish Government.

For all HEIs in Scotland taken as a whole there were therefore in each year more places taken up than funded. Within the overall funding framework institutions have some flexibility in the courses they provide, in response to demand. The total number of any places that remain unfilled at course level is not held centrally.

(b) Colleges

Colleges are not funded for a specific number of student places.  Funding is allocated on the basis of activity delivered – a weighted number of teaching hours (WSUMs).

The total number of WSUMs targeted and delivered is shown in the following table.

Source: Scottish Funding Council; the measurement method changed between 2004-05 and 2005-06; strategic growth target of 20,000 WSUMs from 2006-07 not included.

In all the above years delivery across Scotland exceeded targets. As there is not a fixed number of student places set for colleges it is not possible to say how many places were unfilled.

Source: SAAS. Student numbers have been rounded to the nearest five and monetary amounts to the nearest 1,000.

Student are included in the table if they receive any form of support i.e. tuition fees, (or tuition fee loans if they study outside Scotland) and/or awards and/or maintenance loans. Income bands are based on residual parental or, in the case of students who are married or in a civil partnership, spousal income. This is income after deductions allowed by SAAS have been subtracted.

This table does not include students on the nursing and midwifery bursary scheme. Academic year 2006-07 is the latest for which figures are available.