Additional support provided to students to attend college or university is based on the individual needs of the student and their needs for undertaking a particular course.

Institutions are expected to provide and develop inclusive provision and to meet their statutory duties, for example under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (as amended in 2005), from the core funds which are allocated to them by the Scottish Funding Council. Institutions are also allocated additional funding through the Disabled Students Premium and Extended Learning Support to support disabled students.

Disabled students can also apply for non income assessed individual allowances which are intended to cover any extra costs or expenses they may have while undertaking a course at college or university which arise as a result of their disability.

It is not possible to provide income thresholds for future years until we know what the RPIX rate is.

Thresholds for academic year 2008-09 were announced on 17 January 2008 in S3W-8542. At this time information on income thresholds was placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 44263).

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

The Scottish Government continues to encourage further and higher education institutions to offer flexible provision which responds to the needs of the learner while continuing to offer a high quality and relevant learning experience.

Institutions have a statutory duty under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (as amended in 2005) to publish their Disability Equality Schemes. Within many of these published schemes institutions have stated that they are aiming to provide inclusive learning environments and accessible curriculum for disabled students.

The Scottish Government and the Scottish Funding Council, in partnership with colleges and universities, are also undertaking two pilot schemes, one for students undertaking further education and one for students in higher education. The aims of these pilots are to improve the assessment processes involved in identifying a student’s additional support needs for their particular course.

Further education colleges in Scotland provide a broad range of courses including specialist courses for people with additional support needs as well as providing additional support for students on mainstream courses. Disabled students undertaking a further education course who have extra costs arising from their disability whilst at college in Scotland can apply for an Additional Support Needs for Learning Allowance. This allowance is not income assessed and following an assessment of needs the college decides the amount of allowance a student will receive.

Local authorities have the discretionary power to pay bursaries to students studying further education outwith Scotland. Students studying non advanced courses at college in England may also be eligible for an Educational Maintenance Allowance or and Adult Learning Grant.

The Disabled Students Allowance (DSA) is an non-income assessed allowance intended to cover the extra costs or expenses a student may have while undertaking a higher education course which arises because of their disability. Students can apply for this allowance if they are studying within Scotland or within the rest of the UK.

Colleges and universities in the UK also have a responsibility under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (and as amended in 2005) to make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled students are not placed at a substantial disadvantage compared to non disabled students. This can include providing, within reason, equipment, services, appropriate access to buildings and that adjustments are made to teaching practices and assessments. This is an anticipatory duty which means that institutions need to consider adjustments for all types of disabilities.

Institutions are expected to meet their statutory duties from the core funding which is allocated to them by the Scottish Funding Council. Institutions are also allocated additional funding through the Disabled Students Premium and Extended Learning Support to support all disabled students.

Colleges and universities in Scotland are continuing to become more inclusive for all students. They undertake or arrange for an access centre to undertake a needs assessment in order to identify any specific support arrangements that are required for disabled students. These arrangements are made on an individual basis for the student and are based on their needs for undertaking a particular course.

By consulting on these issues later this year, we will open up a number of other possible scenarios. Should another option emerge as a preferred approach then this will be factored into our efficiency projections accordingly.

(a) Higher Education Institutions:

Each year the Scottish Funding Council funds a number of places, expressed as full-time equivalents (FTE), in universities and other higher education institutions (HEIs), these are generally available to UK and other EU residents. HEIs are independent bodies who are free to recruit further students, from outside the EU when they can charge the full cost of providing the course, or, within certain limits, from within the EU when they would still be able to claim fees from the Student Awards Agency for full time students.

The following table shows the number of funded places for undergraduates and taught postgraduates at Scottish HEIs, and the number of students eligible for funding for the last four academic years.

Source: Scottish Funding Council; funded places includes places funded by the Scottish Government.

For all HEIs in Scotland taken as a whole there were therefore in each year more places taken up than funded. Within the overall funding framework institutions have some flexibility in the courses they provide, in response to demand. The total number of any places that remain unfilled at course level is not held centrally.

(b) Colleges

Colleges are not funded for a specific number of student places.  Funding is allocated on the basis of activity delivered – a weighted number of teaching hours (WSUMs).

The total number of WSUMs targeted and delivered is shown in the following table.

Source: Scottish Funding Council; the measurement method changed between 2004-05 and 2005-06; strategic growth target of 20,000 WSUMs from 2006-07 not included.

In all the above years delivery across Scotland exceeded targets. As there is not a fixed number of student places set for colleges it is not possible to say how many places were unfilled.

Source: Student Awards Agency for Scotland.

Student numbers have been rounded to the nearest five.

In the table “any support” is defined as tuition fees (or tuition fee loans if they study outside Scotland) and/or awards and/or maintenance loans.

These figures do not include nursing and midwifery bursary scheme students. Academic year 2006-07 is the latest for which figures are available.