Chamber and committees

The purpose of the personal fellowshipscheme, run by the Royal Society of Edinburgh on behalf of the Scottish Executive, is to encourage talented researchers at the start of their career to remainin Scotland to develop outstanding research. While there is no maximumage limit, the guidelines indicate that the applicant should normally be aged 32or under, and that older applicants who have had a career break are also eligible.All applications received are considered on the basis of merit.

 Following advice in the Scottish Science Advisory Committee’sreport Investing in Scientific Talent, I have asked the Royal Society ofEdinburgh to undertake, during 2005, a full, independent review of the personalfellowships scheme in order to ensure that it fulfils our current objectives. Thisreview will consider all aspects of the current guidelines. 

The deferment figures for Scottish-domiciled students only are given in the following table. The format of this table is consistent with the table referred to in S2W-14041.

Analysis of Deferment, of Scottish-Domiciled Students, at 31 March by Year of Entering Repayment: Numbers Of Customers (Public Debt Borrowers Only)

Date of Entry to Repayment (1st April)	Mortgage Style Customers who should be entering Repayment	Number Deferring at 31 March
		2002		2003		2004
1991	88	6	7%	6	7%	4	5%
1992	5,107	167	3%	127	2%	116	2%
1993	7,184	525	7%	427	6%	364	5%
1994	8,208	1,007	12%	881	11%	790	10%
1995	8,491	1,705	20%	1,463	17%	1,261	15%
1996	11,608	2,822	24%	2,432	21%	2,149	19%
1997	12,223	3,930	32%	3,411	28%	3,027	25%
1998	14,476	6,310	44%	5,558	38%	4,960	34%
1999	13,277	6,864	52%	5,986	45%	5,363	40%
2000	15,262	9,323	61%	8,244	54%	7,250	48%
2001	16,085	11,642	72%	9,900	62%	8,824	55%
2002	14,669	-		10,513	72%	9,177	63%
2003	5,250	-		-		3,626	69%
Total	131,928	44,301	34%	48,948	37%	46,911	36%

Source:Student Loans Company.

Notes:

1. Constituent parts may not add to totals as customers may have deferred loan accounts with statutory repayment due dates in different financial years (FY).

2. Figures for customers entering repayment are based on closing position at end of FY 2003-04.

It should be noted that deferrals apply only to Mortgage Style Loans and hence make up a smaller proportion of loans each year (Mortgage Style loans apply to students who started in higher education before September 1998). This explains the observed drop in Mortgage Style customers who should be entering repayment as of 1 April 2003.

Extending visas for Non-EU students who have successfully gained a postgraduate teaching qualification (PTQ) at a Scottish Institution is not necessary as they can apply for work permits to complete their probationary year in Scotland.

Students from the European Economic Area (plus Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein) already have the right to live and take up employment in Scotland at the end of their PTQ course and therefore do not need visas to remain here.

The Executive is committed toensuring that those entering higher education achieve their potential and graduatefrom their chosen course. The number of people who enter higher education will fluctuatefrom year-to-year and whilst there has been a reduction in the number of graduatesunder 25 from Scottish higher education institutions over the past four years Scotlandstill achieves a higher rate of participation in higher education than any otherpart of the UK.

For the reasons explained inthe answer to question S2W-14267, answered on 2 March 2005,the decline in the overall number of graduates is partly explained by the differentmethod of collecting data on the numbers acquiring a sub-degree. All answers towritten parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the searchfacility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament/webapp/wa.search.

The following table gives estimates of the number of Scottish-domiciled HE students studying at Scottish higher education institutions contributing to tuition fees in each of the last three academic years for which data is currently available.

Scots Domiciled HE Students at Scottish Higher Education Institutions Contributing to Tuition Fee Support 2000-01 to 2002-03

	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03
Total	24,071	31,776	31,342
Postgraduate students	5,618	8,420	8,291
First degree students	9,085	11,167	11,998
Of which:
Previous HE qualification at or below current level of study	640	808	1,034
First year degree students with an HND	310	458	587
False start/students resitting a year or more	4,458	5,542	6,068
Unknown	3,677	4,359	4,309
Sub degree students	9,368	12,189	11,053
Of which:
Previous HE qualification at or below current level of study	5,632	6,517	5,862
False start/students resitting a year or more	1,794	2,843	2,965
Unknown	1,942	2,829	2,226

Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).

Theimprovement in data collection mentioned in the answer to question S2W-13677, answeredon 1 February 2005, refers to the outcomes for continuing students who studyat further education colleges. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be foundat:http://www.scottish.parliament/webapp/wa.search.

Students on a two year coursethat results in an intermediate qualification after one year (such as HNC) werepreviously counted at the intermediate stage and again at the end of the course(such as HND). From 2001-02 these students are only included when they obtain theirfinal qualification at their institution. An explanation of the change was publishedin the Statistics Publication Notice, Higher Education Graduates and Diplomatesin Scotland: 2001-02, issued 20 November 2003.

The effect of the change wasto reduce from 2001-02 the number of people counted as achieving highereducation qualifications from further education colleges, both in West Dunbartonshireand Scotland as a whole. Data on the number of graduates at higher education institutionsare not affected.

Student loans were introducedin 1990-91 and are treated as outwith Total Managed Expenditure, which meansthat the cash costs are met from the Treasury. These loans were accounted foron a cash accounting basis until 2000-01, and therefore there were no loancosts (apart from SLC administration costs – see below) to the ScottishExecutive or its predecessor, The Scottish Office.

Thechange in accounting treatment from Cash Accounting to Resource Accounting as describedin the answer to S2W-14052, answered on 25 February 2005, introduced a cost for all student loan advances.

Resourceaccounts giving the cost of student loans for students domiciled in Scotland areavailable from 1999-2000, and these can be found on the Scottish Executivewebsite at:

www.scotland.gov.uk/publications.

The cost to the ScottishExecutive of the Student Loans Company since 1999-2000 is as follows:-

Year	*£m
1999-2000	4.515
2000-01	2.873
2001-02	4.192
2002-03	5.202
2003-04	3.662

 

The Scottish contribution tothe administration of the Student Loan Company before 1999-2000 was as follows:

Year	£m*
1990-91	0.680 (estimated)
1991-92	1.365
1992-93	1.428
1993-94	1.791
1994-95	2.108
1995-96	2.488
1996-97	2.344
1997-98	2.761
1998-99	2.763

Note: *the administrationcosts also include development costs of the Student Loan System.

There were two sales of student loan debt to the private sector: the first in 1998 and the second in 1999.

The following table shows the number of court actions raised against account holders UK wide to recover student loans sold to each debt owner. No breakdown of figures for Scotland is available.

Not all account holders will necessarily be graduates.

Debt Owner	Court Actions Raised Against Account Holders	Approx no. of Loans Sold to Debt Owner	Percentage of Court Actions Raised to The Number of Loans Sold
1	9,942	500,000	2.0%
2	1,147	500,000	0.2%

Source: Student Loans Company.

Partnerships between schoolsand businesses - in both the public and private sectors - come in a variety offorms; what is important is that both parties are clear on what they can bringto the relationship, and that they remain committed to it.

Through Determined toSucceed, we are helping local authorities and their schools to continue toincrease the number of school/business partnerships against the background ofour target of 2,000 partnerships by 2006. We shall report next year on oursuccess in meeting that target.

Since 2002-03, over 11,000 teachershave participated in training delivered under the Schools Enterprise Programme orvia our Excellence in Education through Business Links initiative. Under Determinedto Succeed (DtS), we are continuing to develop our learning and development strategy:over 90 Head Teachers have completed leadership training at Columba 1400, and weare drawing up plans to make similar learning available to enterprise coordinatorsat local authority level. Meanwhile, eachof our 32 local authorities have agreed DtS delivery plans that make clear how theyplan to provide CPD opportunities in enterprise to their teaching staff.