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Growing a Knowledge Economy
A debate on motion
S2M-4163, in the name of Nicol Stephen, on growing a knowledge economy.
The
Presiding Officer (Mr George Reid):
Good morning. The first item of business is a debate on motion S2M-4163, in
the name of Nicol Stephen, on growing a knowledge economy.
The Deputy First Minister and Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning
(Nicol Stephen):
Growing Scotland's economy is the Executive's top priority. Our record
levels of investment in Scotland's colleges and universities are focused on
helping us to meet that priority not just in the short term, but in the
medium and long term. We know that investment in tertiary education
contributes significantly to economic growth. That has been shown to be the
case at various points throughout Scotland's history and it is apparent
today in many countries around the world. The Executive has a great record
of investment in our colleges and universities. Since devolution, we have
addressed decades of underinvestment through an overall increase in funding
of more than 53 per cent in real terms, up until the end of the present
spending review period.
It is important that we equip our young people with the right skills to
succeed in the modern world, which are based on individuals' ability to
adapt to shifting demands. We start our young people on that path early. "A
Curriculum for Excellence" sets out the Scottish Executive's vision for
transforming Scottish school education. "Determined to Succeed" is the
Scottish Executive's strategy for enterprise in education. The school and
college partnership programme opens up new choices for young people and
gives them a first contact with university and college education. Our young
people's participation rate in higher education is extremely high.
Our higher and further education system is already a big — perhaps the
biggest — part of the story that we tell the world about modern Scotland.
Our institutions create fantastic opportunities for Scotland to connect
widely with the rest of the world. Over the past year, we have continued to
build the links—with China, India, the United States, Canada and elsewhere —
that will create the opportunities that our country and our economy need.
Our objective is to develop new partnerships that will work to the economic
advantage of our country and which will be good for the rest of the world.
I move,
That the Parliament welcomes the Scottish Executive's record investment in
further and higher education and recognises its significance in Scotland's
current and future economic growth with the sector's focus on key issues
including sustainable development, research and innovation, globalisation,
productivity and skills.
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Murray Tosh):
I call Alex Neil to close for the Scottish National Party. Mr Neil, I can
give you about 12 minutes.
Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP):
The latest OECD figures on growth and investment are a mixed bag for the UK
and Scotland. They show that the average growth in real gross private
non-residential fixed capital formation — which is a way of saying
investment less housing — throughout the OECD was 6 per cent. The UK level
was half that — 3.1 per cent — which compares with 13.9 per cent in Norway,
40.6 per cent in Iceland, 12.9 per cent in Belgium and 10 per cent in
Australia. Those figures are from 2005. Unlike Scotland, the OECD has
up-to-date figures; our latest figures are for 2000, which is Scotland's
history, not its future.
If we consider the latest figures for public investment as a percentage of
GDP, which are from 2004, the first thing we notice about the British figure
is that the Tories have a better record on public investment than the Labour
Government. The figures for 1990 to 1997 show that public investment was 2.8
per cent of GDP in the UK, but under Labour, from 1998 to 2004, it has
fallen to 1.47 per cent.
Allan Wilson:
Does the member support the Conservatives' years of public investment in
unemployment, as opposed to investing in our economy and in employment
throughout Scotland?
Alex Neil:
The reality is that, without Scotland's oil, the Government would not have
been investing very much at all. The Government is still depending this year
on £10 billion of revenue from Scotland's oil, yet ministers are boasting
that the Chancellor of the Exchequer is giving us £87 million more over the
next two years. That is hardly petty cash in relation to the
oil revenue.
I had many other points to make, but my final one is this. Under "A Smart,
Successful Scotland", for Scottish Enterprise to succeed, it must be an
organisation that performs. Despite my warnings to the First Minister two
months ago, when it was denied that there was a financial crisis, many
people will face the prospect of redundancy over the next week or two
because of the financial mismanagement at Scottish Enterprise. I hope
that the minister will make clear in his summing-up speech that we will get
a detailed, reliable statement on the true finances of Scottish Enterprise,
if not today then next week — certainly before the Easter recess.
The Deputy Presiding Officer:
I call Allan Wilson to wind up the debate. You have 12 minutes.
The Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning (Allan Wilson):
Thank you very much,
Presiding Officer. I will try to use that time fruitfully. This has been an
intelligent and expansive debate — in large part. I will take Alex Neil's
last point first. The Deputy First Minister has already answered the
question in his opening speech. We remain committed to keeping Parliament
informed of progress on these matters.
Alex Neil:
I am sorry to interrupt the minister so early in his speech, but can I ask —
The Deputy Presiding Officer:
It is up to the minister whether to give way.
Allan Wilson:
I would like to continue. The Deputy First Minister —
Alex Neil:
Are we getting a statement?
Allan Wilson:
The Deputy First Minister made specific reference on that point, and I am
not —
Alex Neil:
He didnae tell us. Are we getting a statement?
The Deputy Presiding Officer:
Order.
Allan Wilson:
I am not going to add to what the Deputy First Minister said.
A number of specific issues have been raised. Alasdair Morgan, Karen Gillon,
Elaine Murray and others referred to their particular areas of the country
and to how we increase levels of participation in higher and further
education where they are low. I propose to write to the members concerned
with our plans with respect to those cases.
I wish to reflect on some of the issues that have been raised in the debate
in the context of the conference of European ministers of education, which I
attended in Vienna only last week. I will share my observations on a
presentation by Professor Georg Winckler, president of the European
University Association and rector of the University of Vienna.
Professor Winckler covered the contribution that universities make to
European competitiveness.
The topic runs parallel to today's debate, and I discussed it with him. He
began by reminding us that modern thinking on economic growth suggests that,
among other factors, growth derives from quality-improving innovations
triggered by investment in human capital. In simple terms, that means that
one of the keys to economic growth is investment in knowledge generation and
knowledge transfer.
As we have heard today, that is exactly what we are doing here in Scotland,
particularly — although not exclusively — through our significant investment
in our universities and colleges. Investment in further and higher education
has increased by more than 50 per cent since devolution — by a not
inconsiderable sum of money. I respectfully put it to SNP members that that
is what the powers of the Parliament are all about. It is not about powers
per se, however; it is about how we use powers.
In this case, our annual investment will exceed £1.6 billion by 2007-08.
That level of investment will allow our colleges and universities to
maintain and enhance their competitiveness. We have been able to invest that
money in Scotland's tertiary education system because of the Labour
Government's astute management and stewardship of the Scottish economy.
Mr John Swinney (North Tayside) (SNP):
By whom? Name him.
The Deputy Presiding Officer:
Order.
Allan Wilson:
Historically, our institutions have challenged society, but it is now
important that society challenges our institutions, to ensure that they
retain their relevance to contemporary society. We need to make demands of
our institutions. Sometimes, they can be conflicting demands. For example,
we must ask our institutions to be frontrunners in excellence and innovation
while at the same time ensuring that the broadest range of people can
benefit from what they have to offer in skill development and knowledge
transfer.
One of the great debates of the day is access and excellence. Those on the
right would have us believe that we cannot have both excellence and broad
access. The left and centre-left would say, I argue, that we can have both.
We can have excellence in our higher and further education institutions and
we can broaden access. I believe that we have the right range of
universities and colleges here in Scotland to respond successfully to such
conflicting demands. I also believe that we are providing the correct level
of investment to allow them to perform those critical functions.
On the level of investment, Alex Neil reamed off, as he always does, a
stream of statistics. I do not wish to get into that debate, although I
should say that Scotland actually excels in levels of research and
development investment. Scotland invests a higher share of GDP in higher
education research and development than do the USA, Japan, Germany, France,
the rest of the UK,
the rest of the European Union or the rest of the OECD.
We recognise the significant contribution that our colleges and universities
make to the economy through their provision of highly skilled graduates for
the Scottish labour market; through their leading-edge research, to which a
number of members have referred, which ensures knowledge transfer into
Scottish businesses; and through their work to attract students and staff
from all over the world.
I will make some brief remarks about China, which has been mentioned a
couple of times. When we think about the knowledge economy, it is impossible
not to think about China. When China began to open up to the world in the
1990s, we all expected it to change, but I do not think that any of us
expected it to change as quickly as it has. The investment that is being
made in China is attracting Chinese scholars back home in high numbers.
Professor Winckler told me that 81 per cent of the members of the Chinese
Academy of Sciences and about 50 per cent of the Chinese Academy of
Engineering are returned overseas scholars. China is on course to meet its
aim of matching the US and Japan with respect to innovations by 2020. That
is but one indication of the scale of development in China's tertiary
education sector.
We must respond — we cannot be static in the face of such competition. We
need to break down some of the barriers that surround our institutions. In
particular, we need to use developments such as the Scottish credit and
qualifications framework to encourage mobility between institutions at
various entry points. We need our institutions to provide the appropriate
skills and competencies for the labour market. That can be achieved only
through partnership between institutions, employers, the Government and its
agencies. I am particularly hopeful that the Scottish funding council's new
skills committee will offer us all informed and expert opinion on that.
Colin Fox and Frank McAveety referred to access. Colin Fox argued that the
expansion of higher education has disproportionately benefited people from
more advantaged backgrounds. There is some truth in that, but the situation
would not be helped by the regressive funding policies that some Opposition
parties propose.
More young people from working-class backgrounds are going into higher
education than ever before. We are working hard with institutions to
encourage greater participation in education by those from more
disadvantaged backgrounds. There is no better example of that than John
Wheatley College, to which Frank McAveety referred and which is in his
constituency. That college is working with the local authority and others to
improve the level of participation by people from the most disadvantaged
backgrounds.
Jim Mather was right to say that measurement of our interaction with China
and, more generally, measurement of success in our approach to the knowledge
economy are necessary. The issue is challenging but it is correct to make it
a priority. We will engage with colleagues, principally in the funding
council but also elsewhere, to ensure that we make progress. I set great
store by making the right levels of investment, but it is crucial to measure
the effectiveness of investment in securing our wider social policy and
wider economic objectives.
We need to fund our institutions at appropriate levels and make funding more
effective in education and research. As I have said, the Executive has an
excellent record on investment in our colleges and universities, but our
evaluation of effectiveness and value for money needs to be more robust and
we will continue to work with the funding council to achieve that. That is
why I will support the SNP's amendment to the Executive's motion.
We need to protect institutional autonomy while maintaining accountability
for public investment. Tensions over that may sometimes arise, but we can
achieve a sensible balance between autonomy and accountability.
We need to acknowledge and reward excellence. If we want our institutions to
be front-runners in innovation and knowledge transfer, we must ensure that
the people in our institutions feel valued.
We must build up an attractive image of our institutions in the world. Our
institutions provide us with a good story to tell about Scotland — a story
that we take to the world. It is critical for Scotland that our institutions
continue to build on their good reputations and that we work hard with them
to promote their work.
The Executive is making significant investments in the development of our
knowledge economy. We are taking action to create an infrastructure for the
21st century by investing in the knowledge and skills of Scotland's people.
We are developing strong links with the rest of the world, which will allow
us to capitalise on global opportunities.
We are maintaining Scotland's ability to provide world-class further and
higher education, which will ensure that Scotland remains a place of
innovative thinking and world-class research.
Through our investment in colleges and universities, we will ensure that
they continue to act as agents for Scotland's future social, cultural and
economic growth.
Decision Time
The Presiding Officer (Mr George Reid):
There are five questions to be put as a result of today's business. The
first question is, that amendment S2M-4163.2, in the name of Jim Mather,
which seeks to amend motion S2M-4163, in the name of Nicol Stephen, on
growing a knowledge economy, be agreed to. Are we agreed?
Members:
No.
The Presiding Officer:
There will be a division.
The Presiding Officer:
The result of the division is: For 106, Against 4, Abstentions 1.
Amendment agreed to.
The Presiding Officer:
The next question is, that amendment S2M-4163.1, in the name of Murdo
Fraser, which seeks to amend motion S2M-4163, in the name of Nicol Stephen,
on growing a knowledge economy, as amended, be agreed to. Are we agreed?
Members:
No.
The Presiding Officer:
There will be a division.
The Presiding Officer:
The result of the division is: For 16, Against 74, Abstentions 21.
Amendment disagreed to.
The Presiding Officer:
The next question is, that motion S2M-4163, in the name of Nicol Stephen, on
growing a knowledge economy, as amended, be agreed to. Are we agreed?
Members:
No.
The Presiding Officer:
There will be a division.
The Presiding Officer:
The result of the division is: For 95, Against 16, Abstentions 0.
Motion, as amended, agreed to.
Resolved,
That the Parliament welcomes the Scottish Executive's record investment in
further and higher education and recognises its significance in Scotland's
current and future economic growth with the sector's focus on key issues
including sustainable development, research and innovation, globalisation,
productivity and skills and now wishes to see that investment subjected to
close scrutiny to identify its effectiveness in terms of growth, jobs and
incomes under a process of independent statistical control that fosters an
era of perpetual improvement and benchmarks Scotland's performance against
international competitors.
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