Colleges and universities in Scotland face a fresh cuts after finance secretary Shona Robison slashed their funding by more than £100 million.
Bosses warned of “inescapably hard choices” ahead as the axe fell on the further and higher education sector at a time when staff have already been fighting for the future of their jobs and courses.
Budget papers showed a £107.4m cut to the budget of the Scottish Funding Council, which distributes grants to colleges and universities, between this year and 2024/25 – a reduction of 5.3 per cent before inflation.
The net college resource budget, used for the bulk of day-to-day spending, is set to fall by £58.7m, or almost 8.4 per cent. For higher education, the resource budget is due to be cut by £48.5m, nearly 6 per cent.
Meanwhile, capital funding, used for building projects, will increase slightly in cash terms, by £2.5m for colleges and by £16.2m for universities.
The UCU Scotland trade union said: "It’s really worrying to see these significant cuts to university and college funding, at a time when we’re already seeing jobs on the line and courses under threat. We should be investing in the future, not making real-terms cuts to our education system.”
Professor Iain Gillespie, convener of Universities Scotland and principal of the University of Dundee, said: “This is a tough budget for higher education, with a 2.7 per cent cash cut overall and close to a 6 per cent cash cut to budgets for teaching.
