Riddell's and Blackburn's remarks in News Statesman (12.4.2016)

The News Statesman (12th April 2016) quoted remarks of Riddell and Blackburn on the failure of free university tuition in Scotland to narrow the attainment gap between advantaged and less advantaged Scottish children and to widen access to higher education for the latter.

The paper raised research evidence by Lucy Hunter Blackburn to underline that the free fee policy has led to cuts to student grants, a transfer of £20 million from disadvantaged to middle-class students and a decline in the success rates for the most disadvantaged Scots applying to university. Meanwhile, Professor Sheila Riddell was also quoted by saying that the policy was "a conscious political decision" to force extra cuts in schools and colleges spending. She also pointed out that a lack of data to highlight failings in schools implied a lack of accountability.

This article can be viewed via the following link:

The News Statesman (12.4.2016) - The SNP has failed Scotland's children

Related projects

• Access to higher education for people from less advantaged backgrounds in Scotland and the rest of the UK
• Attracting diversity: Identifying underrepresented groups
• Research into widening participation at the University of Edinburgh: the student’s perspective
• Improving young people’s knowledge of student finance in Scotland
• Evidence Base behind Widening Access to University Education
• Higher Education in Scotland, the Devolution Settlement and the Referendum on Independence

Related publications

• Riddell, S., Weedon, E., & Minty, Sarah (Eds.) (2015) Higher Education in Scotland and the UK: Diverging or Converging Systems? Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
• Minty, Sarah (2015) Student finance: A guide to higher education in Scotland. Edinburgh: CREID, University of Edinburgh.
• Blackburn, Hunter Lucy. (2015) Whose to lose? Citizens, institutoins and the ownership of higher educaiton funding in a devolved UK. HEPI Report 72.