Glasgow University Students’ Representative Council president, Liam King, labels Scottish Government’s higher education Bill ‘unmitigated disaster’

President says the Bill has been 'ramshackle and embarrassing and, ultimately, threatens to undermine democracy in Scotland’s universities'

The University of Glasgow (Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

A student leader at one of Scotland’s oldest universities has criticised the Scottish Government for passing a higher education Bill, calling it “an unmitigated disaster” which has interfered with “a proud Scottish tradition.”

Liam King, president of the Students’ Representative Council at the University of Glasgow, made the comments in an open letter to the country’s Cabinet Secretary for Education, Angela Constance, as SNP ministers pass the Higher Education Governance (Scotland) Bill through Holyrood.

The Bill aims to take charge of the way universities make appointments to governing bodies and academic boards. It also sets out revision plans regarding the academic freedom available to “various persons carrying out activities at higher education and certain other institutions.”

Mr King described Scotland’s universities as being “a source of national pride,” further adding how their teaching and research “changes lives in ways many other sectors can only dream of.”

However, he added: “It is at our peril we make changes in this space. Central to the success of Scotland's universities are their diversity, modernity and independence.

“I am perplexed, Cabinet Secretary, as to how the Scottish Government has managed to botch this Bill so profoundly. From inadvertent clauses that risked turning Scotland’s universities into public bodies to utter ignorance of relationship between the role of Rector and role of ‘chair' of court. This Bill has been an unmitigated disaster.”

The philosophy and psychology student said it was the issue of the Rector “which puzzles me so deeply” because the Scottish Government has not made clear plans for the proposed election of a ‘chair' of court.

He went on to explain: “The University of Glasgow has an elected chair of Court already and it is called the Rector. The Rector is the ordinary president of Court and they are directly elected by this university’s most important stakeholders: the students. It is part of a uniquely Scottish tradition which places students and democracy at the heart of ancient university governance.”

Urging the Cabinet Secretary to reflect on her own experience as a former GUSRC president, Mr King said the circle the Scottish Government is trying to square has already been done, having been in place for over 150 years.

The president concluded: “I have been deeply disappointed by the way in which the Scottish Government has approached this issue. It has been ramshackle and embarrassing and, ultimately, it threatens to undermine a proud Scottish tradition, democracy in Scotland’s universities, and good governance.”

Mr King has now called on ministers to “see sense and defend the interests of students” by retaining the position of Rector and “doing away with this unworkable Rector/ elected chair duo” as the Bill enters its next stage. He told the Independent he has yet to receive a response to the letter.