Although international students do not seem to be staying away from Scotland like many had feared, commenters have noted that the pandemic has demonstrated just how vulnerable the current model is.120 Richard Lochhead MSP told us that “it has been a bit of a wake-up call for the institutions”.121 Whereas usually the SFC are most concerned about income of Scotland’s modern universities, the pandemic caused a situation where some of the “larger, more established institutions are much more chall...

Although international students do not seem to be staying away from Scotland like many had feared, commenters have noted that the pandemic has demonstrated just how vulnerable the current model is.120 Richard Lochhead MSP told us that “it has been a bit of a wake-up call for the institutions”.121 Whereas usually the SFC are most concerned about income of Scotland’s modern universities, the pandemic caused a situation where some of the “larger, more established institutions are much more challenged about their business model and about some of those exposures on international and commercial fees”.122 Dr Stuart Fancey, Director of Research and I Type: conclusion | Number: 50 | Response status: not_addressed Government response: Higher Education in Scotland is, for the most part, a devolved responsibility. We recognise that the whole of the UK benefits from stability across Higher Education. We appreciate the importance of continuing to work closely with the Scottish Government as we rec