Teachers, students and politicians have called for a U-turn over the scrapping of a “ground-breaking” and “essential” programme which helped young people from deprived backgrounds into university.
As revealed exclusively by The Herald, the Advanced Higher Hub at Glasgow Caledonian University is due to be shut down as a result of funding cuts.
The decision has already been condemned by the Glasgow City Parents Group, which said that the closure would “add an additional barrier for pupils accessing the learning they need to pursue their future ambitions.”
Now local teachers, former pupils, student representatives and opposition politicians have spoken out and called for the cut to be reversed.
Both Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Funding Council – a body which operates at ‘arms-length’ from the Scottish Government and distributes funding for colleges and universities – plan to withdraw financial support for the Advanced Higher Hub at the end of this academic year.
A spokesperson for the Scottish Funding Council told The Herald that the organisation had been “proud to support the development of Advanced Higher provision across the Glasgow region along with its partners, GCU and Glasgow City Council.” They added that “delivery of provision will now return to the City Council and be embedded within the secondary school offering”, a move described as “building on the success of the Advanced Higher Hub.”
In its original statement responding to our story, Glasgow City Council pointed to a £50m hole in its 2023/24 budget and stated that its plans include “a network of local secondary schools that will offer harmonised timetables to maximise opportunities for pupils in their senior phase.”
However, former staff and pupils at the Hub, as well as teachers currently working in Glasgow secondary schools, have told The Herald that schools cannot replicate the benefits of the programme, which took place in the university’s city-centre campus.
