Fears of university mergers hang over calls to adapt

The Herald Scotland 02 May 2020

Scotland’s universities must play their part in adapting to the ‘new normal’ amid warnings that institutions could be forced to merge in return for government support, writes David Bol for The Herald Scotland.

Universities have warned they face severe financial gaps unless they are propped up – but institutions have been urged to show a willingness to adapt to a new way of working. The principal of a leading Scottish university has warned that governments should not merely hand out “a blank cheque to temporarily plug financial gaps” but has instead called for institutions to embrace an overhaul of how higher and further education is provided in Scotland going forward.

Professor Anton Muscatelli, principal of the University of Glasgow, has also been appointed to the Scottish Government’s advisory group on economic recovery. He wants universities to set out a new way of working amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Muscatelli said: “For universities, as with every other sector, there is no longer a status quo – and any calls for additional public funding need to make a virtue of this fact. We require new investment not to maintain old standards but to react and reform in the face of global change.”
Full report on The Herald Scotland site

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