23 September, 2007

Neil MacCallum, head of policy and strategy at the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, is to campaign for a high-level strategic review of the country’s universities, criticising the system for failure to meet the needs of business and the economy as a whole.

"Scotland,” he says   has to look very hard at rationalising higher education because we have too many institutions at the moment. We have to identify our strengths and avoid unnecessary duplications," he said. The higher education sector is a tremendous asset to Scotland, but it operates in a highly competitive international marketplace.

Back in July, a Wheeler Associates/Morgan Cole Layton study criticised Universities in England & Wales for ‘failing to exploit their intellectual capital’ finding that cash generated by exploiting IP amounted to no more than 0.2% of institutional funding across the 50 institutions surveyed and even the most successful generated no more than 2.5%.

While 48% of institutions have set targets for commercialization, they focus on quantatititve (ie numbers of licences, patents, spinoffs) and few set business like target of net financial gain to university. In addition in 90% of institutions. Academic are believed more interesting in publishing research to improve RAE ratings than applying for patents.

In the surveyed institutions commercial exploitation of IP in the last 12 months raised from less than £10,000 to £3m and each university currently has around a dozen patents.

MacCallum however cites a growing skills gap as evidence of a poor record of connecting skills to the enterprise agenda, he believes that the time is right for a comprehensive study of the education system's structure and economic role.

Formerly head of appraisal and evaluation at Scottish Enterprise, MacCallum believes over-emphasis on academic qualifications has disadvantaged Scotland.

"Many  markets in Scotland are not being served with the skills they need. Business and industry has been struggling to make a connection with education for years," he said. "I am not calling for particular universities to close or merge, but nothing should be off the agenda and we have to consider the future approach carefully, not slip back on knee-jerk reactions.

The new Scottish government recognised this issue earlier this month, when Cabinet secretary for education and lifelong learning Fiona Hyslop MSP published a lifelong skills strategy, calling for collaboration between the public and private sector to design a system that meets the needs of both learners and employers.

Universities Scotland  which represents the country's 20 higher education institutions, warned that any programme of cutbacks, closures or mergers could prove disastrous.

"We have over 40,000 employees. We have a sector turnover of over £2bn. When you put this together you come out with a clear conclusion that universities are big enough to be efficient and effective. There is no case in recorded history in the UK of two universities being merged and actually saving money," said Univerities Scotland spokeman, Robin McAlpine,

"In the next 10 years, Scotland may face a shortage of 200,000 people with postgraduate qualifications.”

MacCallum nevertheless points to repeated surveys pointing to a widening skills gap. "I am not trying to upset traditionalists, just engender a mature, dispassionate debate about the future direction of the education system and it's strategic role in the economy," he concluded.

5 October 2007

Currently around 6500 students are studying on University of the Highlands Institute courses or undertaking post-graduate research with UHI. The UHI mission is to create a University of the Highlands and Islands. It is now to have  access to grant funding of up to £21m over the next seven years. Health science research and sustainable energy projects are expected to attract a large slice of the EU funding. UHI had hoped to attain full university status this year but have been told to provide a stronger structure before it will be considered.