Alex Salmond, Scotland’s first minister, wants to boost economic growth and transform Scotland into a “Celtic tiger”. But he is bound to fail unless the country’s universities are better-funded, according to Universities Scotland, lobby group for the country’s universities.
The 14 institutions receive £1bn ($1.6bn) a year from the Scottish government, equivalent to 3 per cent of its £33bn annual budget. Ahead of the latest spending review, the universities were lobbying for a 15 per cent increase in real terms in government funding by 2010/11, which would have meant an additional hand-out of £168m.
