How it plans to prevent future financial distress at universities, and whether it is considering a review of the higher education funding m…

We have a world-leading higher education sector to be proud of, and I value greatly the contribution that universities make to our economy and society. Ministers have been clear that the Scottish Government’s position on tuition fees will not change. The policy ensures that access to higher education is based on the ability to learn and not the ability to pay.The Scottish Government do not accept that the current model is broken, but we accept that it is under severe pressure, largely because of circumstances that are outwith our control. Universities across the UK are facing financial challenges due to a range of factors, including the hostile immigration policies enacted by the UK Government in recent years hampering the ability of universities to welcome the brightest and best talent from across the world; inflationary pressures and the current UK Government’s increase to employer national insurance contributions, which has resulted in a £48m million pressure across the sector.Despite the challenging financial circumstances, our commitment to Scotland's universities is demonstrated through our investing over £1 billion every year in the sector since 2012/13. This is continued in the 2025-26 budget which provides over £1.1bn of investment in teaching and research in Scotland’s universities. In addition, since February we have also announced a further £25 million to support universities facing financial challenges. The university funding allocations for 2025-26, which institutions will receive sight of in the next few weeks, will also show an uplift in the teaching price.We are committed to engaging constructively with the sector to future proof the funding approach. The Cabinet Secretary and I have had a preliminary conversation with Universities Scotland on this and have agreed to return to the subject before the summer. While the sector is keen to lead on the development of potential solutions, Ministers wish to encourage others who want to engage constructively on the issue and bring forward ideas, albeit starting from the position that we will not reintroduce tuition fees. In addition, the Scottish Government fulfilled a Programme for Government commitment by publishing its first International Education Strategy (IES) on 7 February 2024, setting out how we will work with partners to promote Scotland’s education offer globally, including how we will maintain our links with the EU.While universities are autonomous institutions with responsibility for their own strategic and operational decision making, the Scottish Government and Scottish Funding Council will continue to work closely with the sector and offer appropriate support as institutions develop plans to mitigate their financial challenges.