Scottish universities oppose poor-student recruitment plan

Scottish universities have opposed plans for new legislation to force them to recruit more students from deprived backgrounds or face fines, writes Andrew Denholm for The Herald Scotland.

Universities Scotland, which represents university principals, said the Scottish government proposals would not address long-standing problems of inequality in higher education. But Education Secretary Michael Russell told the Scottish parliament last week the proposal had received widespread support and was “the route we will pursue”.

The row follows the publication last September of Russell's paper, “Putting learners at the centre”, which first suggested plans for the new legislation. It said universities should be placed under a statutory duty to seek out talented pupils from schools who routinely send few pupils to higher education.
Full report on The Herald Scotland site