University of St Andrews (Postgraduate Medical Degrees) Bill: Stage 3
We must conclude stage 3 by 3.30 pm. As a result of the suspension of certain standing orders, there are no amendments for stage 3. Therefore, stage 3 consists only of a debate on motion S1M-3209, in the name of Iain Smith, that the University of St Andrews (Postgraduate Medical Degrees) Bill be passed.
I will not take up much of members' time, as I am aware that time is limited. I know that several of my colleagues want to speak and I hope that they will speak in support of the bill.
As indicated at stage 1, the purpose of the bill is simply to allow the University of St Andrews to award postgraduate research degrees in medical sciences. That is an addition to its portfolio of research abilities and will be greatly welcomed by the university and by the medical profession and the health service in Fife.
In moving the motion, I thank the convener and members of the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee for assisting with the smooth passage of the bill, the clerks of that committee for their help and the members from all parties across Mid Scotland and Fife who signed my original proposal. I also thank the universities and medical schools in Scotland and Manchester that responded to the consultation exercise to indicate their support. In particular, I thank the University of St Andrews, which has been supportive in providing background information to enable the bill to progress.
I also thank the Executive for giving the bill a fair wind through the parliamentary process and for its support in today's debate and in the debate two weeks ago. In addition, I thank the Parliamentary Bureau, which assisted in allowing the bill to progress with all speed—it has perhaps had the quickest progress of any bill—from the day of introduction to its being passed, I hope, at the end of today's meeting.
I must especially thank the Scottish Parliament's non-Executive bills unit. The bill is small and it might not look as though much work would be needed to get it right, but I know that the non-Executive bills unit did a lot of work to get the bill to the Parliament and to deal with the amendments. I am grateful for the unit's work during the period in which I have been promoting the bill. I thank members for their support to date and I hope that, later today, they will agree to the motion.
I move,
That the Parliament agrees that the University of St Andrews (Postgraduate Medical Degrees) Bill be passed.
The support for Iain Smith's bill has been encouraging. This is the sort of proposal that might never have seen the light of day without the member's bill procedures and I commend Iain Smith's determination to bring it forward.
The bill will give new opportunities in Fife for qualified doctors who want to gain research experience. Iain Smith's amendment rectifies an unintentionally tight stricture in the bill and opens up the research opportunities to overseas doctors, including those who have limited registration. St Andrews has a long tradition of attracting overseas students at every level. That is important because Scottish higher education stands to gain from forging links with overseas students. We have much to offer but just as much to learn from the different perspectives and cultural traditions that overseas visitors bring.
The credentials of the University of St Andrews as a research university are impeccable. It consistently performs well in the research assessment exercise, which examines research across the United Kingdom and weighs up the quality against national and international criteria. In biological sciences, the university's score denotes that up to half its research is of international standard and the rest is of national standard. That augurs well for the launch of the new medical research degrees.
The Executive welcomes the bill, as amended, and commends it to the Parliament.
I congratulate Iain Smith on bringing the bill to the Parliament. It is an ideal subject for a member's bill and has received support from all the MSPs in Mid Scotland and Fife. The bill reinstates to the University of St Andrews the ability to award a postgraduate degree in research in medicine. The University of St Andrews believes that the course will have a knock-on effect in the local area. The bill will be good for St Andrews and for Fife and I am glad to be able to add my support to it.
The Conservatives are glad to support the bill and we thank Iain Smith for bringing it to the Parliament. We hope that such support is reciprocated when I lodge my home education bill. We commend the bill to the chamber.
I, too, welcome the bill, which reinstates the right of St Andrews to award postgraduate degrees for research in medicine. That right was removed by the Universities (Scotland) Act 1966, when the clinical part of the degree was transferred to Dundee because there was no teaching hospital in the St Andrews area. St Andrews has, of course, continued to offer a three-year undergraduate Bachelor of Science course in medical science, which is used to gain entry into the clinical element of the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery course at the University of Manchester.
This bill will help to restore the reputation of the University of St Andrews for medical research and, as the minister said, we should do all that we can to encourage research across the sciences in Scotland. The minister referred to the research assessment exercise, but only two of the ancient universities—the University of St Andrews and the University of Glasgow—are high in that league. We need to get the others higher up as well.
The postgraduate medical degree on offer will be similar to those on offer at Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Dundee; the University of Manchester has said that it has the potential to be comparable with the best in England. The postgraduate medical degree is more attractive to a qualified medical practitioner than a PhD is because a PhD takes a minimum of three years, whereas St Andrews will offer flexibility, either through a two-year full-time course, a five-year part-time course or the submission of published works.
The minister mentioned overseas students. However, it is important to encourage qualified medical practitioners in Fife who want to continue to practise in the area to undertake research, as that might have important and significant benefits for the health service in Fife, as the university recognises.
Although the bill will affect only one or two people a year, it is important, because we must encourage research across the sciences and because it will deliver benefits for the health services in Fife.
I, too, congratulate Iain Smith on introducing the bill. The bill as amended—I am sure that members welcome the amendment, which certainly clarifies the position—is good news not only for the University of St Andrews and the PhD students who will, I hope, study there, but for Fife as a whole. I hope that those who choose to come to Fife to study will stay and contribute to the health of Fife's communities. That is why key stakeholders in Fife have welcomed the bill.
The course that the bill enables the university to offer will be attractive not only to medical graduates who wish to gain a research-based award, but, I hope, to highly qualified doctors who want to carry out a research project. It will also allow us to work in partnership with other institutions, not least the University of Manchester.
The Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee also welcomes the bill. In evidence that the committee took, it found no opposition to the bill from other universities.
As I said in the stage 1 debate, I hope that the university will introduce medical PhD courses in the near future, in line with the Executive's science strategy and its commitment to research and development. I welcome the bill and the potential that it has for Fife.
Mr Smith, we still have three minutes in hand before the knife falls, if you want the final word.
I do not think that I have three minutes-worth left to say, Presiding Officer. However, I thank the members who have spoken in the debate for their support for the bill. In particular, I thank the minister for the Executive's support.
Tricia Marwick said that what the bill proposes is an ideal measure for a member's bill. That is right. It is the sort of measure that would not have been possible had it not been for the Scottish Parliament and the member's bill procedure. However, I sound a note of caution. Perhaps at some point the Procedures Committee should consider why we need primary legislation to make such a small, insignificant amendment to the law—it is significant for the University of St Andrews, but not in the greater scheme of things. There must surely be a quicker, more cost-effective manner of making such a small change.
I thank all those who have supported the bill. The University of St Andrews will welcome it. It will allow the university to attract highly qualified medical practitioners to come to Fife to study and to produce good research as part of the university's growing bank of excellent research. The University of St Andrews may be Scotland's oldest university and it may think that modern history started in the 15th century, but it now has high-quality research facilities at the cutting edge of technology. It produces new ideas that will benefit the Scottish economy. The ability to bring medical research back to the University of St Andrews will help to support that, particularly in the molecular sciences.
I commend the bill to members and look forward to receiving their support at 5 o'clock.