School of Education

In February, the Scottish Parliament published a research briefing examining “The impact of tightening finances on Scotland's universities”, authored by UofG researchers Professor Sajjad Hussain and Dr Dely Lazarte Elliot.

The research was carried out as part of the SPICe Fellowship Scheme. The authors were among five UofG researchers who were appointed to highly competitive Academic Fellowship positions with the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) in September 2025.

In addition to publishing the research briefing, the authors also presented their findings to the Scottish Parliament Education, Children and Young People committee.

The research briefing considers the financial challenges faced by Scottish universities, examining the potential root causes of the current situation, the impact on university students and staff, and how the sector might move forward.

Dr Elliot, Senior Lecturer at the School of Education, said:

“It is our hope that our report will not only contribute to a better appreciation of the HE sector’s complex financial landscape, but more importantly, it will serve as a catalyst to inform much-needed discussion leading to concrete actions, with a view to resolving the crisis confronting the HE sector.”

The authors expressed their gratitude to the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe), University of Glasgow's ESRC Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) and EPSRC IAA for funding the research.

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First published: 9 March 2026