Lucy Hunter Blackburn
Widening access with greater borrowing powers
The Scottish Government is keen to stress the role of college-based HE in getting poorer students into degree courses. But it ignores the cumulative effect of cuts to student bursaries over the years since 2007.
Wot’s Swinney’s big education idea?
John Swinney is a Big Beast brought in by the First Minister to close the attainment gap in Scottish schools – or “fix” a failing system. Lots of ideas swirling around but a rather vague…
New Education Minister: raising standards
Her choice of Education Minister will be a defining element of Nicola Sturgeon’s likely cabinet reshuffle and of her first full five-year term as First Minister. The agenda could not be tougher or more complex…
Student funding: what the parties say
Scotland’s leading expert on HE funding sets out what the parties say about student support in the run-up to the May 5 elections to the parliament.
Maths and myths around graduate charging
Ruth Davidson has set out proposals for charging students up to £6000 upon graduation for a 4-year course. But the maths around this idea are not simple as Scotland’s leading expert on student funding explains.
University is no universal benefit
Scottish universities, we learn, have a £60m annual funding gap yet ministers talk as if all young people should go free to university. But how is that wider access to higher education to be financed?…
Swinney frets – or frits – about SRIT
The row over a 1p rise in income tax or SRIT has for once put the SNP and Scottish Government on the back foot. And that’s before increases in tax allowances kick in. This leaves…
Sauce for the goose?
The Scottish Government has put the squeeze on spending and staffing levels within some public services. But not others. The agency handling student support, for instance, has had a big boost in staff – unknown…
Student debt: class matters
The Scottish Government refuses to acknowledge the way student debt hits young working class people hardest. Even the NUS Scotland virtually ignores the issue. Our leading expert cries shame.
Scottish Government’s greatest financial asset is… student loans
When student loans have become the Scottish government’s biggest financial asset and one in six Scots of working age owes outstanding loan money to Holyrood it’s time to have a serious look – especially when…
Privatising Scottish water: the issue gets even murkier
The Scottish Government has been trying to push its so-called plans to hand ownership and control of business water usage to a private English company into the long grass. Time to come crystal clear and…
Human rights and ethical exceptionalism
Nicola Sturgeon has positioned the Scottish Government as the stoutest defender of the Human Rights Act. But the SNP’s position is not as clear-cut as that, argues penal reformer Lucy Hunter Blackburn.