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A thought on Scottish independence
Apr. 3rd, 2007 11:37 amThe Scottish National Party are doing well in the polls leading up to the elections for the Scottish parliament. This led me to post this thought on the Guardien's blog site this morning.
I work at a Scottish university & in my opinion independence would not benefit these institutions. (Disclaimer: this is my personal opinion, not a university policy). Most university research is funded by the UK research councils and much of it involves consortia and collaboration with other universities across the UK. If our funding were to come from a separate body instead, it would effectively cut us off from these broader collaborations. EU funding would not compensate - we already partake in EU projects and the number of these would not increase.
Even the threat of independence and the associated political instability could put off talented people from applying to jobs in the Scottish universities. It seems to me that Scotland gets a good deal out of the union and we should stick with it.
I work at a Scottish university & in my opinion independence would not benefit these institutions. (Disclaimer: this is my personal opinion, not a university policy). Most university research is funded by the UK research councils and much of it involves consortia and collaboration with other universities across the UK. If our funding were to come from a separate body instead, it would effectively cut us off from these broader collaborations. EU funding would not compensate - we already partake in EU projects and the number of these would not increase.
Even the threat of independence and the associated political instability could put off talented people from applying to jobs in the Scottish universities. It seems to me that Scotland gets a good deal out of the union and we should stick with it.
