Portfolio Education
opportunities to help learners use their time and we use our resources effectively. It must recognise that not all learners have the luxury of studying full time for a number of years, no matter whether there are fees or there are not fees. For many, the journey needs to be much shorter.” Tis point was seconded by NUS Scotland
President Liam Burns, who said that too often students articulating from college to university are not having their prior learning recognised. “Whenever we ask about articulation…
the barriers that are flagged up are about curriculum design. I don’t believe that in all cases,” Burns said. “Sometimes I think that is actually around about perceived prestige of where a student is coming from. Far too often we hear that someone will get their HND or HNC at a college and then apply to one type of institution – say Glasgow Calley [sic] – and they’ll be admitted into the second or third year as they should do under the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework. Tey apply to Glasgow and they’re told to go back to first year.” To tackle this issue, Burns floated the idea
of Higher National Certificate and Diploma (HNC and HND) qualifications – delivered at colleges and awarded by the SQA – being awarded instead by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA). “If curriculum design is honestly a barrier
to students articulating appropriately, then why do subject descriptives for HND and HNC still lie with SQA? Maybe we should start thinking of moving that into QAA,” he said.
Beyond the headlines University governance review
When it comes to the running of universities, governments are always careful to acknowledge that they are autonomous institutions. But events of recent months have prompted the Scottish Government to take a more active stance and this month the Education Secretary announced a review of university governance. The trigger for this move was a wave of unrest in two Scottish universities. In February, proposals by the University of Glasgow to cut a raft of courses including nursing and social work provoked an outcry from students, staff and some of the wider community. More recently Strathclyde University’s plans to axe courses in music, community education, geography and sociology have sparked similar protest. In the wake of these disputes, staff and student leaders have demanded reform of the decision-making process in institutions and the Cabinet Secretary has signalled that he has been listening. Now re-elected to government with a hefty majority, the time has come to back those
words up with action. The Education Secretary has set up a five-member panel, headed by Professor Ferdinand von Prondzynski, the new principal of Robert Gordon University to consider governance of higher education. The group – to include unions and students and a chair of court – will publish its remit before the summer recess, consult over the summer and present conclusions to the Government by the end of the year.
38 Holyrood 27 June 2011
A number of suggestions have been put forward for reform from having more staff and student representation on governing bodies to stronger senates and even elected principals. And the review has been welcomed by student and staff representatives, though concerns have been raised over the appointment of von Prondzynski to lead the group, his university having de-recognised Euro trade unions. Judging from the professor’s previous comments, however, he appears to be up for reform. And given his outspoken nature, he will hardly be afraid to explore bold ideas. Speaking to Holyrood in May, a month before the review group was announced, von Prondzynski said: “I think governance needs to be looked at. I think the extent to which governance is appropriately exercised, given all the things that we know now in the corporate world, the post-Enron era where governance has been heavily reviewed in the corporate sector, there’s a lot to be said for looking again at how governance is exercised in universities. “I think university governing bodies are typically far too large. If you’ve got 25 people sitting around a table, you’re not actually exercising any governance at all. It’s not going to happen in that setting. They’re too large and there are too many vested interests often involved,” he said, adding that the board at RGU operates well. The principal said he believes elected principals would lead to “very bad management across the institutions”, demonstrated by the fact that those university systems that operate such elections under-perform in the global league tables. Whatever the panel concludes, it would be surprising if the growing demands for staff and students to be more central to university decision making was not taken on board.
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