Tertiary Education Futures

The RSE and the Young Academy of Scotland are leading a joint project to discuss the future of tertiary education in Scotland.

Jump to: Report Key findings Resources Additional information

Background

The last five to ten years have seen many big developments impacting Scotland’s tertiary education system. Some positive changes have included:

  • National initiatives around enterprise and skills.
  • Widening access and the learner journey.
  • New modes of delivery including graduate apprenticeships and online learning.
  • Greater cross-over between college and university pathways.

It is certain that tertiary education will continue to evolve and transform over the next few decades, with implications for learners, the economy and society alike.

Disruptions such as Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as more long-term trends like the ongoing digital revolution, mean this change will not always be steady nor predictable. Tertiary education will need to become resourceful and agile in the face of these forces, continuing to provide a key service while also contributing to the solutions that society needs to thrive.

The RSE’s independence and convening power are uniquely placed to facilitate frank, cross-disciplinary dialogue to inform public policy and address complex societal problems.

This project, therefore, aims to:

  • Stimulate wide-reaching and informed debate about tertiary education futures by bringing in a wide range of views and perspectives.
  • Provide opportunities for practitioners, students and the wider public to join the conversation and share their experiences, ideas and ambitions for the future of tertiary education in Scotland.

However, the tertiary sector also finds itself facing increasingly complex and unprecedented challenges ranging from:

  • Increasing marketisation and competition between education providers.
  • The changing demographic of the student body.
  • Brexit and its impact on funding, free movement, and other factors.
  • Internationalisation.
  • Debates about the allocation of public funding to different areas of tertiary education, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

These factors have yet to prove positive or negative but they are undeniably occurring at a time of growing pressure on staff time and shrinking resources within institutions.

Student-centredness will become a defining feature in the future of tertiary education.

The project’s final report builds on the investigative roundtables informed by sectoral views. It aims to stimulate continued creative thinking about how post-school education might evolve over the next few decades and what this means for learners and society. The project captured lived experiences as well as reflections on more general concepts such as collaboration in the sector or shared values in the tertiary system. The findings are intended to serve as a starter for further dialogue. By initiating a forward-looking conversation, cotland can ensure it is well-placed to nurture a system that delivers for all learners, in all instances, whilst also empowering staff and society at large.

Download Tertiary Educations Futures report 2023 (1.54MB, PDF)

Key findings

  • Learners will come from increasingly divergent backgrounds – including a rise in returners displaced from the job market by decarbonisation or automation.

  • Fostering a culture of collaboration will require system-wide changes such as funding reforms.

  • Taking a value-based approach to the topic of competition between institutions could help to reduce barriers to a more integrated system.

  • Learners understandably want to futureproof their education as far as possible and may look to alternatives if tertiary providers fail to modernise.

  • Adaptable and behaviour-centred meta-skills such as innovative thinking and emotional intelligence will become increasingly vital

  • Community learning and partnerships have an essential role in learning and providing accessible, local lifelong learning opportunities.

  • We must continue to look beyond our borders at the evolving role tertiary education can play in different parts of the world and how this can enrich our understanding.

  • Further technological transformation is inevitable and the tertiary sector must ensure it is on the front foot in order to capitalise on its opportunities without disenfranchising staff.

Activity

Roundtable discussions

With a focus on facilitating dialogue and debate, the project is centred on a series of discussions with staff, students, employers and the wider public which look to capture their experiences, ideas and ambitions for the future of tertiary education in Scotland. These discussions will ground our findings in real-world evidence and invite new and important voices to the table who have traditionally been underrepresented in conversations about tertiary education.

To start, the project invited current learners from over 12 different universities and colleges from across Scotland to share their perspectives on tertiary education and what they would like to see from the sector.

Participants included representatives from:

  • City of Glasgow College
  • Dumfries and Galloway College
  • Edinburgh College
  • Edinburgh Napier University
  • Glasgow Caledonian University
  • New College Lanarkshire
  • Queen Margaret University
  • University of Edinburgh
  • University of Glasgow
  • University of St Andrews
  • University of Stirling
  • University of the West of Scotland

Download the TEF roundtable 1 report (300KB, PDF)

Resources: Articles, blogs, videos, and podcasts:

Additional information

Our project has been informed by related pieces of work in the tertiary education space, including RSE and YAS’ own contributions to key inquiries such as:

  • The Muscatelli and Cumberford-Little Reports
  • House of Commons Scottish Affairs’ Committee’s inquiry into Universities and Scotland
  • The Scottish Funding Council’s review of the coherence and sustainability of higher education and further education

Additionally, youngacademyofscotland.org.uk has held several conversations about the future of higher education in Scotland and beyond.

 

In partnership: