Speeches by Sullivan.

“In this Committee’s visit to Norway fairly recently, and speaking to a number of companies, it was clear that the Norwegian Government perhaps have a greater appetite for risk. We heard earlier that failure in this area, in the space sector, is not what we would traditionally perceive failure to be. It is not a catastr…”

“To go back to this skills gap, it would be remiss of me, given that we have a panel of academics, not to mention that there is something of a crisis within higher education, and further education to some degree, in relation to funding. Do you think there has to be a greater cognisance from both Scottish and UK Governme…”

“I guess I was really picking up on the point made by you, Professor Macdonald, about having to turn students away. We are hearing across different industries that there are skills shortages. In our other inquiries, we are hearing the exact same thing. There seems to me to potentially be an issue in the pipeline, but if…”

“Following on from the last question, what do you see as the main obstacles that each country faces? How do you think their strategies differ in trying to overcome those obstacles?”

“I mean in terms of the first orbital launch.”

“Good morning. It has been very clear to me, particularly in recent months, that the challenges faced by universities across the UK are broadly the same. We have heard that the Scottish and Welsh Governments are providing extra funding for struggling institutions. In the case of Scotland, the Scottish Government have ma…”

“UCU has criticised higher education providers for borrowing too much for capital spending on buildings, for example, at the expense of academics. How do you respond to those criticisms?”

“Moving on, do you think that poor governance, particularly financial governance, contributed to certain higher education providers now facing difficulties? I think that the inquiry at the University of Dundee might touch upon some of those points.”

“In particular, it relates to the limited number of spaces for Scottish students.”

“I would like to ask a question very briefly on that last point. As you will be aware, Scottish students do not have to pay tuition fees in Scotland. While I think everyone appreciates the importance of international students, do you believe that there is an overreliance on income from international students by Scottish…”

“I am very mindful of time, so I will ask this very quickly. If the Government do not step in with emergency funding, what alternative legislative and regulatory measures should the Government and the Office for Students take to help struggling institutions?”

“Good morning. It has been very clear to me, particularly in recent months, that the challenges faced by universities across the UK are broadly the same. We have heard that the Scottish and Welsh Governments are providing extra funding for struggling institutions. In the case of Scotland, the Scottish Government have ma…”

“UCU has criticised higher education providers for borrowing too much for capital spending on buildings, for example, at the expense of academics. How do you respond to those criticisms?”

“Moving on, do you think that poor governance, particularly financial governance, contributed to certain higher education providers now facing difficulties? I think that the inquiry at the University of Dundee might touch upon some of those points.”

“In particular, it relates to the limited number of spaces for Scottish students.”

“I would like to ask a question very briefly on that last point. As you will be aware, Scottish students do not have to pay tuition fees in Scotland. While I think everyone appreciates the importance of international students, do you believe that there is an overreliance on income from international students by Scottish…”

“I am very mindful of time, so I will ask this very quickly. If the Government do not step in with emergency funding, what alternative legislative and regulatory measures should the Government and the Office for Students take to help struggling institutions?”

“UCU has criticised higher education providers for borrowing too much for capital spending on buildings, for example, at the expense of academics. How do you respond to those criticisms?”

“Moving on, do you think that poor governance, particularly financial governance, contributed to certain higher education providers now facing difficulties? I think that the inquiry at the University of Dundee might touch upon some of those points.”

“In particular, it relates to the limited number of spaces for Scottish students.”