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More opportunities for Scottish students
15/10/2009
The Scottish Government will financially support an estimated 10 per cent increase in the number of students entering higher education as a result of rising applications during the current downturn.
In response to a written question in the Scottish Parliament today, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Llifelong Learning, Fiona Hyslop, announced that the Scottish Government will make £8.6 million available to meet the student support and tuition fee costs of around 3000 extra students this academic year.
Ms Hyslop said:
"The Scottish Government recognises the crucial role that Scotland's universities play in our economic recovery which is why we are investing more than £1 billion a year in the sector.
"Our universities have responded positively and flexibly to the increase in applications we have seen as the recession has bitten. Changes introduced in 2007-08 removed restrictions on the number of science technology, engineering and maths places and introduced greater flexibility in the number of places in most other subjects. Universities have now seized this opportunity to contribute to Scotland's economic recovery.
"I am now happy to announce that the Scottish Government will provide an estimated £8.6 million to meet the increased fee and student support costs associated with the increase in student numbers - effectively supporting around 3,000 additional students this academic year. This is good news for students and good news for our economy, which will benefit from their knowledge and skills in years to come."
The cost of providing student support and meeting the tuition fee costs of 3,000 extra students this session will be approximately £8.6 million. The number of extra students may be subject to change and may be greater than 3000. Final intake statistics for 2009-10 are expected to be available in January 2010.
In 2007-08, the SFC introduced a degree of flexibility for university admissions for STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) courses, designed to reflect the importance of such courses in contributing to economic growth. This effectively removed any penalites upon the sector for over-admission in these subject areas.