Widening Access - Equality of Access to Higher Education

As an amendment to motion S6M-12642 in the name of Graeme Dey (Widening Access – Equality of Access to Higher Education), insert at end "; notes the Scottish Government’s own Equality and Fairer Scotland Budget Statement accompanying the 2024-25 budget, which warns of 'a significant risk that the reduction in the HE resource budget will increase competition for remaining university places, which could disadvantage learners from socio-economically disadvantaged areas with lower prior attainment'; understands that this funding crisis extends to the whole tertiary education sector, with Audit Scotland noting that it will be 'difficult for colleges to balance delivering high-quality learning at the volume expected while contributing to other Scottish Government priorities'; calls on the Scottish Government to set out its plans to meet its commitment in the 2023-24 Programme for Government to lead development of a new post-16 education funding model, and believes that a sustainably funded tertiary education sector is crucial to the future of Scotland."