Scotland can deliver world-class higher education:
Scotland can deliver world-class higher education:
Student support during summer months. Summer can be a difficult time for students, as temporary work can be scarce. To give students financial support over the summer months, Greens will push for student options to access a national hardship fund to help prevent students dropping out of education between academic years, or to rebalance their bursary and extend their loan payments to stretch over the summer months.
Widening access. Green MSPs will support action to break down the barriers to further and higher education. Scottish Greens’ student support proposals are designed remove financial barriers to education and we agree with the Commission on Widening Access that “inequality in higher education is unfair, damaging and unsustainable”. We will use its findings and recommendations published in March to ensure action on access to education is as bold as it can be.
Resist marketisation. Scottish Greens support measures that will allow Scotland's universities to oppose the marketisation of Higher Education and to distance themselves from mechanisms such as the Research Excellence Framework, Teaching Excellence Framework and other artificially competitive funding mechanisms, enabling them to concentrate on real research and teaching.
Support for international students. Greens will continue to place pressure on the UK government to reintroduce the post-study work visa – a scheme which allows international students to stay in Scotland after their studies. We believe that someone who has chosen to study here should be given the opportunity to stay in Scotland and contribute to their chosen field.
