Ministers have accepted that university funding is in trouble, yet the review they’ve launched excludes the most contentious issue of all: tuition fees says Peter Macmahon.

Political and policy debate nearly always evolves in stages. Let us chart the phases of the public discourse over funding Scotland’s Universities.

The first phase, after the introduction of ‘free’ tuition fees, was marked by a prolonged outbreak of crowing, boasting, and unflattering comparisons with other countries, notably England. This was not confined only to the ranks of the governing party, the SNP. If there were a Richter scale for virtue signalling, we would have reached major earthquake levels north of the Border.

The second, which it took many years to enter, was the ostrich or three wise monkeys phase. Ministers, civil servants and opposition MSPs began to hear warnings from University leaders over funding. First privately, for they feared being targeted by the government as trouble-makers, and then as the funding crisis became more acute, in public as some finally plucked up some courage to speak out. This was met by the burying of heads in the sand, dismissal of concerns increasingly backed up by facts, and a ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ approach from most politicians.

The third phase took a long time to arrive at but is now upon us. It is the acceptance phase. Ministers have finally acknowledged there is a problem and established a review. It will be “a collaborative project between the Scottish Government, Universities Scotland and other relevant stakeholders to co-design and secure a successful and sustainable future for Scotland’s university sector”.

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This being government, it has a predictably clunky name, the Framework for Sustainability and........

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