Current Petitions

Members will be aware of the letters that have come in on the petition and the interest that I and others have in it, given that it comes from the University of Glasgow, which is in the area that I represent. The petitioner has asked that we look at the outcomes agreement that has been signed by the university and the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council and get an update on what is to happen. I suggest that we support the petitioners’ request regarding the outcomes agreement.

Can I clarify what we are being asked to do? I think that we are being asked to take a view on the education provision in an autonomous university, which would be a strange thing for the committee to do.

I would be uncomfortable about the committee making such a recommendation.

I am concerned about the committee taking that view. I think that it might be better to refer the matter to the Education and Culture Committee, which could look at whether that line could be pursued. If we act as has been requested, we will be going further than we should, given the evidence that we have received.

I take on board the concerns that members have expressed, but the committee has checked with the clerks that it is within our competence to write to the SFC. We would not be asking it to take specific action; we would be making a request. I know that Joe FitzPatrick is filling in for Mark McDonald, but the threat to Slavonic studies is a huge issue, not just in the University of Glasgow, although that is where the petition comes from. Courses in Slavonic studies and languages will be lost. It is not a tiny issue. I understand where Joe FitzPatrick is coming from, but the teaching of Slavonic studies as a whole will be affected, because such courses will be lost. Glasgow is the only place outwith London where such courses are available. If we lose those courses, anyone who wants to do Slavonic studies would have to go to London—they would not be able to do it in Scotland.

Obviously I have not been here for all the evidence sessions, but I am concerned about suggesting that the outcomes agreement contain specific reference to one topic and feel that we might be almost trying to direct an autonomous educational institution to treat it differently from everything else. I understand the concerns that have been expressed and the importance of the issue, but I wonder whether there is a different way of addressing the situation or whether we should ask the Education and Culture Committee to take a wider look. I simply think that we are taking a very narrow approach. I know that the petition refers to one particular subject but I am not sure that we should recommend that it be specifically covered in the outcomes agreement.

While acknowledging Joe FitzPatrick’s point about our recommending that the outcomes agreement specify that Glasgow University should maintain Slavonic studies, I wonder whether we should write to the funding council and the university itself to ask whether Slavonic studies has been specifically included in the outcomes agreement between both—and if not, why not—and what other option or provision is available to students in Scotland who wish to study the subject. We would not be directing the university or the funding council, but simply asking the questions.

That is right.