Scottish Week: the Scottish Parliament 2026 and higher education

This is the third blog in Scottish Week. This blog was kindly authored by Professor James Miller FRSA, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, University of the West of Scotland, Convener, Universities Scotland.

Read the first blog in the series here and the second blog here.

When the Scottish Parliament reconvened in 1999, higher education dominated the first Holyrood election and the coalition negotiations that followed. Twenty-five years on, as Scotland approaches its seventh parliamentary election, few expect universities to feature so prominently.

Partly, that is deliberate. The Framework for the Sustainability and Success of Scotland’s Universities, co-created by the sector and the Scottish Government, and announced in December, has created a rare cross‑party consensus on the need for a long‑term, sustainable funding model. The Framework’s success will shape higher education well beyond the next parliamentary session. It cannot solve every challenge overnight, but it provides a new platform for the continued success of Scotland’s universities.

Across the sector, there is recognition that demographic change, financial pressures and shifting economic needs require universities to rethink how they operate. Institutions have already begun this work. Sector‑wide efforts to widen access continue to deliver: Scotland’s target of 20% of entrants coming from the most economically challenged communities by 2030 will fall within the next Parliament. Collaborative procurement through APUC now involves more than 60 institutions, delivering efficiencies at scale. And at the institutional level, innovation is accelerating.

At the University of the West of Scotland, for example, we are expanding work‑placed learning degrees in areas such as Social Work, Town Planning and Operating Department Practice – programmes designed around the learner and the workforce –  not around traditional university structures. Through our Undergraduate School at New College Lanarkshire, we are delivering degrees where learners are, reducing the need to relocate and removing barriers to progression.

This flexibility could be rapidly scaled to support Scotland’s labour market. Universities Scotland has proposed a co-designed Future Skills Fund to support new, flexible and short courses at SCQF Level 7+, aligned explicitly with regional and national skills needs. A multi‑year commitment to such a fund would allow employers and universities to plan for reskilling and upskilling in areas of economic opportunity – from green industries to health and social care.

But flexibility within institutions must be mirrored by flexibility in the systems around them. Scotland’s teaching funding methodologies and student support model have barely changed since devolution. It reflects a traditional view of the university experience rather than the reality of the 2020s, where part‑time work is the norm and part‑time study is poorly supported. Funding mechanisms must adapt to our students’ lived reality.

There are practical steps the next Scottish Government could take immediately to help the sector deliver more effectively for learners, communities and the economy.

Collaboration across schools, colleges and universities is central to widening access and successful learner journeys. Yet Scotland still lacks a Unique Learner Number, despite it being recommended in 2016. Without it, it is difficult to assess which interventions deliver impact, how learners move across institutions, or where resource is best directed.

A ULN will not generate headlines, but it would enable evidence‑based investment in programmes that genuinely support progression. After years of being labelled ‘too difficult’, now is the moment to deliver it.

Universities generate £17.1 billion in economic impact and are anchor institutions in communities across Scotland. They invest most effectively when two conditions are present: certainty over future funding and access to affordable borrowing.

Both are within the Scottish Government’s gift. Moving from one‑year budgets to multi‑year settlements would give institutions the confidence to invest in people, programmes and infrastructure. Reintroducing low‑interest borrowing, particularly for estates and digital infrastructure, would unlock capital projects that deliver long‑term benefits for students, communities and the economy – while minimising pressure on the public purse.

If Scotland is serious about creating environmentally sustainable, modern campuses and digital‑ready institutions, this combination is essential.

Growth in flexible student pathways – especially work-placed learning – depends on funding that follows the learner. At present, receipts from the UK‑wide apprenticeship levy flow to the Scottish Government through Barnett consequential mechanism, but these funds are not clearly visible in budgets. Greater transparency and more agility in the graduate apprenticeship framework mechanism is needed, alongside an approach that aligns funding with the realities of workplace learning and allows more employers to benefit.

Universities are also closely watching the implementation of the Tertiary Education and Training (Funding and Governance) (Scotland) Act. Exempting private providers from Fair Work requirements risks creating a two‑tier system and placing colleges and universities at an unfair disadvantage. For Scotland’s skills system to thrive, all providers must operate on a level playing field and uphold consistent standards.

For a decade, universities warned that Scotland’s funding and policy environment was jeopardising the sector’s global reputation. During the last parliamentary session, that concern became reality. The funding gaps that once could be bridged through entrepreneurial activity are now too wide to close without change.

The Framework for the Sustainability and Success of Scotland’s Universities offers a credible path forward. Its emphasis on both sustainability and success is vital: Scotland needs a system that is financially secure, but also able to innovate, support learners from all backgrounds, and drive economic growth.

As Scotland elects a new Parliament, the opportunity is clear. If the next Government can deliver a sustainable funding model, modernise student support, and take practical steps to enable long‑term investment and skills flexibility, universities will be empowered to deliver even more for Scotland’s people, public services and economy.

We look forward to working with the next cohort of current and new MSPs to realise that ambition and to help shape a higher education system capable of meeting Scotland’s needs for the next 20 years.

Want to understand more about Scotland and higher education?

In 2024, to mark 25 years since the devolution of powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, HEPI and The Education Group London published the collection of essays ‘Evolution of Devolution‘. It provides a comprehensive analysis of how higher education policies in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have evolved over the past quarter of a century.