Chamber and committees

I announced on the13 June that I am actively engaged with my officials on our plans to abolish studentloans and replace them with means tested grants. That work continues.

We are committed tobringing forward accurately costed proposals in due course. As with all policiesthat have a financial aspect to them, the final decision will be subject to thespending review. Should our proposals require legislation, we will bring this forwardto parliament for consideration in due course.

We are currently lookingat the details of abolishing the student loans and replacing them with means testedgrants. As part of this we will produce detailed costings of these prospects indue course. This information will then be used to inform decisions in the spendingreview.

I announced on the13 June 2007 that our proposal is to have the legislationin force by 1 April 2008. If the parliamentary process is completedby this date, the legislation would not need to have retrospective effect.

We are currently reviewingstudent support for part-time study and will publish our findings and plans oncewe have carried out appropriate options appraisal and consultation with stakeholders.

Outcomes of the reviewwill depend on what support we decide will best meet the needs of the learners,employers and the wider economy. We will look to take account of review outcomesin spending review considerations.

Widening accessto higher education is a priority for the Scottish Executive.

We recognise thatdisabled learners are a distinct group with specific needs. The ScottishFunding Council’s widening participation strategy, Learning for All, and thefirst update of the report shows that disabled people are a key focus for the Executive in the promotion of equal opportunity. The four regional WideningAccess Fora have been tasked with taking this work forward.

We recognise theneed to review our funding and student support mechanisms to ensure that theyhave been designed to best meet the needs of disabled people in highereducation. The Scottish Funding Council have recently reviewed the DisabledStudents Premium, this new mechanism will put the onus on the institutions tobuild capacity for disabled students. Officials in the Executive are currentlyreviewing the provision under the Disabled Students Allowance.

Information is notheld centrally on the number of students in particular exemption categories. However,the percentage of students granted an exemption from paying the Graduate Endowmentare as follows:

2004-05 – 8,115 studentswere exempt (approximately 44%).

2005-06 – 10,287 studentswere exempt (approximately 48%).

2006-07 – Figuresare not available at the present time. The Students Awards Agency for Scotland writesto these students in July 2007.

Overall since thestart of the Graduate Endowment 18,402 (approx 46%) of students were exempt.

Widening accessto lifelong learning is a priority for the Scottish Executive. We recognisethat this requires a long-term strategy and that significant activity isalready taking place. We will be working with the Scottish Funding Council toensure that within the widening participation strategy, Learning for All, thereis a focus on those activities which are most effective. This will requirepartnership working with colleges, higher education institutions, the FundingCouncil and the four regional Widening Access Fora.

For the academic year2005-06 (the latest year for which full data is available), there were 19,014 studentsacross Scotland who were in receipt of the full amount ofYoung Students Bursaries (YSB).

The number of studentsfrom the Lothians who were in receipt of the full amount of YSB is highlighted inthe following table.

StudentsReceiving Full YSB support, by Lothians Local Authority Areas, 2005-06

	2005-06
	Students receiving full YSB entitlement
Total	2,200
East Lothian	235
Midlothian	210
West Lothian	460
Edinburgh	1,295

Source: Student AwardsAgency for Scotland (SAAS).

Notes:

Student numbers arerounded up or down to the nearest five.

Students in the abovetable are those who lived in the Lothians prior to entry to higher education.

We are currently reviewingstudent support for postgraduate study and will publish our findings and plans oncewe have carried out appropriate options appraisal and consultation with stakeholders.

Outcomes of the reviewwill depend on what support we decide will best meet the needs of learners, employersand the wider economy.

Many peopleacquire skills and knowledge throughout life that have not traditionally beenformally recognised or accredited. The Executive recognises that Recognition ofPrior Learning (RPL) will open up opportunities within further and highereducation to a wider range of students.

One of the aimsof the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) is to facilitate therecognition of this type of learning, either for career development andguidance purposes or for the allocation of SCQF level and credit which could beused to access further learning including further and higher education. TheSCQF has launched guidelines and other support material on RPL to help andencourage learning providers to use the SCQF to recognise informal andnon-formal learning.

Decisionsregarding entry qualifications to further and higher education are rightlymatters for individual institutions. However the Executive will work withinstitutions, the Scottish Funding Council and the SCQF to encourage thefurther development and use of the SCQF’s RPL guidelines in order to encouragewider access to further and higher education.