A consultation on simplifying funding for universities, colleges, apprenticeships and student support is open for views.
The proposals presented in the consultation will help make the system easier for learners to navigate.
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A consultation on simplifying funding for universities, colleges and apprenticeships, as well as student support, has opened for views.
Currently, funding is provided by Skills Development Scotland (SDS), the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS), and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).
In December, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Graeme Dey, announced this will be streamlined to help enhance support for young people as part of the ongoing reform programme across the sector.
Yesterday, two options for change were set out:
Work will now be taken forward in consultation with the bodies affected and wider stakeholders, with changes expected for the 2026-27 academic year.
Mr Dey said: “More than £3 billion a year is invested across Scotland’s post-school system. This enables around 500,000 people in any given year to pursue opportunities at colleges and universities, with free tuition benefiting 120,000 students.
“Over the past decade the funding system has become increasingly fragmented with multiple bodies involved in different aspects of provision.
“We are facing the most challenging public spending climate since devolution, and it is vital that investment delivers the greatest impact to support learners. To do that, we must reduce complexities and the options being set out today are an important step towards this.”
Financial support available to undergraduate students will rise by £900 from the start of the 2023-24 academic year.
Estranged students in higher education and other undergraduate learners with the lowest household income will see their maximum support package increase from £8,100 to £9,000 per year, as the ceiling for all student loan applications is uplifted by £900.
The annual non-repayable Care Experienced Bursary for eligible higher education students will also increase to £9,000. In further education, a £900 increase will also be applied to the maximum bursary rate available to care experienced students.
These increases will be available to students already at college and university and for new students beginning their studies from Autumn 2023.
Students in need of immediate financial support for the 2022-23 academic year are still able to apply to their college or university for assistance through their Discretionary Funds.
Higher and Further Education Minister Jamie Hepburn said: “This rise in support will help to alleviate the financial pressures facing many students as we grapple with the cost-of-living crisis.
“The maximum financial support package available to the most vulnerable students and those from the lowest household incomes in Higher Education will rise to £9,000. This is the next step in delivering our commitment to provide a total package of student support equivalent to the living wage.
“Increasing the Care Experienced Bursary will help more of Scotland’s Care Experience community to access further and higher education and fulfil their potential.”
Who Cares? Scotland CEO Louise Hunter said: “It’s great to hear news of the £900 increase in financial support available to students in Scotland. I’m sure this will be welcomed by many students who are struggling to balance their education and finances during the cost-of-living crisis.
“Raising the Care Experienced Student Bursary to £9,000 per year responds to the specific challenges this group can face. For many Care Experienced people without family to rely on for support during their studies, they can face greater barriers in realising their lifelong right to education.
“We know that Care Experienced people are often disproportionality disadvantaged compared to their peers and in recognition of this Who Cares? Scotland will continue to fight for the rights of Care Experienced Students – as committed to within The Promise. This means we can ensure all members of our community are given the right support to thrive.”
A £10,000 gift will help the next generation of stage, screen and behind-the-scenes talent fulfil their dreams at one of the world’s top destinations to study the performing and production arts.
Amazon Development Centre Scotland is supporting students as they develop their craft at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) in Glasgow, a global leader in performing arts education.
Powered by performance, with a culture of creativity and collaboration, the nation’s conservatoire nurtures the most promising Scottish, UK and international artists and performers as they prepare for the professional world.
Scholarships enable young people from across Scotland and around the globe to study at an internationally renowned conservatoire. Donations remove the financial barrier or pressures they might otherwise face and may cover either part or the full cost of tuition fees, help with living costs or to purchase essential equipment.
Graeme Smith, Managing Director at Amazon Development Centre Scotland, said: “We are proud to support the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and its efforts to encourage as many people as possible to get involved with the performing arts.
“At Amazon, we’re passionate about helping young people succeed, whatever their background, and we hope this donation will help the institution as they continue to find and nurture talented artists across our community, especially in these challenging times.”
Professor Jeffrey Sharkey, Principal of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, added: “An arts education should be available to all and financial barriers or otherwise should never stand in the way.
“Scholarships are life changing – they open up a world of opportunity, offer enriching experiences and allow artists to immerse themselves fully in their studies as they work towards a career in the performing arts.
“We are grateful to Amazon Development Centre Scotland for their donation which is an investment in the future of the arts.”
Amazon Development Centre Scotland has been based in Edinburgh since 2004 and is responsible for devising and growing innovations that bring new levels of choice and convenience to hundreds of millions of customers around the world.
It houses teams of leading engineers, scientists, designers and product managers who work on everything from interactive user interface design to large-scale distributed systems and machine learning. The team is currently recruiting for a number of positions including software developers, engineers and applied scientists.
Community donations are one of a number of ways in which Amazon is supporting communities across the UK during COVID-19. Amazon Prime Video recently committed over £1.5 million to support the recovery of the European TV, film and theatre production community in the UK.
Throughout the pandemic Amazon has provided students with free online STEM resources and supported virtual classrooms with no-cost resources from AWS. The company has also teamed up with charity partner Magic Breakfast to deliver over 2 million healthy breakfasts to disadvantaged children around the UK.
For more information on how Amazon is supporting the UK during COVID-19, click here.
RCS is the only place in Europe where all of the performing arts are taught on one campus, with specialist training in music, drama, dance, production, education and film.
Donations to RCS’s fundraising campaign, We Are Still Here, will safeguard the future of the arts through student scholarships. We Are Still Here launched in November 2020 with a powerful short film narrated by award-winning Hollywood and West End actor James McAvoy, a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s BA Acting degree programme.
With footage filmed throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, the film features music from acclaimed pianist and composer Fergus McCreadie, a rising star on the European jazz scene, who is an RCS graduate and scholarship recipient.
RCS is committed to providing pathways for emerging artists, helping them to realise their potential and achieve their ambitions, regardless of their background. Its Fair Access programme and pre-higher education initiatives work with young people from across Scotland, to ensure the performing arts are accessible to all.
The award-winning Transitions programme is for Scottish residents living at postcodes that are identified as being within the top 20 per cent on the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) list.
It provides funded training, tailored support and mentoring for those wishing to study the performing or production arts and prepares them for degree-level training at conservatoire or university level.
Find out more and donate to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland student scholarship fund.
College bursaries and undergraduate student loans will increase and support for postgraduate students on eligible courses will be made available as part of the Scottish Government’s commitment to put more money in students’ pockets.
Investment of over £100 million in college bursaries will deliver an increase in line with inflation. Undergraduate student loans will increase by £250 a year, bringing the minimum income for those from the lowest income households to £7,500.
Scottish domiciled postgraduate students undertaking eligible supported courses, a majority of which cover STEM subjects which are in demand from employers, will be able to apply for a loan of up to £4,500 a year to help with living costs from 2015-16. This is in addition to the current loan available as a contribution towards the cost of tuition.
Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning Michael Russell said: “Providing protection from inflation for further education student support in the next academic year was a key priority for students. Our response will see the value of the total college bursaries package rise to around £105 million.
“For higher education students, we scrapped tuition fees, introduced a minimum income of £7,250 – which will now rise to £7,500 – for students from the lowest-income households and have provided what NUS describe as ‘the best package of student support in the UK.
“Today’s announcement to increase bursaries and loans builds on these commitments. College students will be better off while undergraduate students at university will have access to an extra £250 per year. Scottish domiciled postgraduate students on eligible courses will now be able to apply for a loan of up to £4,500 to help meet the cost of their living expenses.
“We want students in Scotland to be able to study for the qualification that suits their ability and ambition. These changes will help make that a reality and improve the life chances and employability of young Scots delivering real benefits to the Scottish economy in future.”
