Government Funding of Education - Essay Example

Government Funding of Education in Scotland Education is of utmost importance in today’s world of science and technology. From sophisticated degrees in Medicine, Engineering, Accountancy and Economics to the simpler courses like cooking, all are a part of the educational training of a person. It helps develop one’s personality and hone one’s concealed skills, thus, empower him to work efficiently and be beneficial for the country and wider world at large. A large skilled working force means greater, better quality of work output; hence more profits for the country. This attracts the attention of the government in the form of funding into the educational sector. Therefore, we come to the million dollar questions: How much is today’s government giving to the educational sector? How is the money distributed? Is it enough or more is needed? More importantly, why is government funding so important? Scotland has a rich and distinguished history with regards to education. There are basic four levels of education being followed in Scotland, all of which are amply funded by the Scottish government. First is the State Nursery School, which caters preschool students up to five years. These are usually attached to a primary school, run by the local education authority and are free (BBC, 2009). These centres are essential for high quality early learning and care for children. Realizing the importance, the government has announced extra funding for Nursery Schools in the form of free study hours. News headings flashed across the screens of all leading news channels around the globe in not so recent past: “Childrens Minister Beverley Hughes has pledged £340m to extend the entitlement from 12.5 to 15 hours a week” (BBC, 2007). Second and Third Levels are occupied by Primary Schools and High Schools. They, too, are a part of public education. According to the Encyclopaedia Wikipedia, public education is defined as: “Education mandated for or offered to the children of the general public by the government, whether national, regional, or local, provided by an institution of civil government, and paid for, in whole or in part, by taxes. “ These schools are funded by the Central Government through the local authority according to a range of formulae based on the number and range of each school’s pupils. This is commonly known as delegated funding. Lots has it been put into the development of education at this level. In June 2002, the minister of Education and Young People announced a 1.15 billion package of investment through fifteen public private partnership projects to build schools. In March of 2003, a further of 748 million was pledged to the above mentioned investment package (SEED, 2004). Next comes the higher education-college and university level. Undergraduate, graduate to post graduate studies, Scottish Government has never left a leave unturned to promote education at this level. The further and higher education is mainly funded by Scottish Funding Council (SCF). Students Award Agency for Scotland (SAAS) is also another government organization that funds college and university students, providing bursaries, grants, loans, etc. These two organizations are discussed in more detail as under. Scottish Funding Council (SFC): It is a Non-Departmental Public Body of the Scottish government established in October 2005 after merging Scottish Further Education Funding Council (SFEFC) and the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC). It is responsible for funding, teaching, learning provision, research and other activities in Scotland’s 43 colleges and 20 higher educational institutes. Scottish Funding Council website boasts, “In 2009-10, we will invest about £1.7 billion in Scotlands colleges and universities” (2009). Of the £1.7 billion, £1.14 billion will be spent on universities to develop skills, learning, research, and supportive innovation in the economy. The investment, which will be distributed amongst 20 universities in Scotland, signals a major change in the way in which SFC funds universities. The main elements are: an investment of £126 million through the introduction of a new Horizon fund to act as a catalyst for change in support of Scotlands future economic, social, civic and cultural future; an investment of £988 million through the introduction of a new General fund which will provide universities with a flexible funding stream to support their core activities; and within the General Fund, an investment of £211 million through the introduction of a new Research Excellence Grant to support and develop Scotlands research excellence. These grants and funds would enable development of better infrastructure, labs and research facilities in all universities, hence placing them in a stronger position to contribute to Scotland’s future prosperity especially during the current economic crisis that plague the world. The rest of the £572 million has been set aside for further education. This is split into two main categories: general funding and strategic funding where general funding includes teaching and fee waiver and student support. The main teaching grant (£401 million) is allocated on the basis of activity to which a standard unit price is attached.  Any fees that colleges are assumed to earn is removed from this process and the grant is enhanced to recognise additional costs such as entry costs, social inclusion, remoteness and achievement. Funds are also allocated to influence the geographical supply of education. This includes providing additional funding to the central region, the south region, the west highlands, Lanarkshire and Dunbartonshire. The student support allocations consist of £64 million for bursary support and £15 million for Further education discretionary funds and childcare funds.  Bursaries funds are allocated on the basis of previous spend behaviour.  The other funds are allocated according to student activity, headcount and deprivation (SFC, 2009). In addition to the above mentioned, SFC has been involved in capital funding up to hundreds of millions of pounds in new build, refurbishment and relocation capital projects to support Scotlands colleges to develop their buildings and equipment for teaching, learning and research. The aims and objective of SFC can be summarized into the following postulates. Access to learning Relevant learning High-quality learning Internationally competitive research; Effective knowledge exchange World class institutions Though these are some very commendable goals, it will not be wrong to brand them as overly ambitious. As the saying goes, “easy said than done”, these are unlikely to be achieved unless the collaboration between colleges, universities and the council is highly effective. This will require a high standard of governance, leadership and management but, let me say this, these are not impossible. SFC is working diligently for the enforcement of these goals in all educational centres. Yearly assessment reports are published and frequent meetings are organized which critically analyse the past years performances and give suggestions to make the program work better. Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS): SAAS is another government based agency that helps students to pay for their tuition fees by giving them loans and grants for higher education courses. It deals with eligible Scottish domiciled students throughout the United Kingdom. The magnitude of work done and help imparted can be ascertained by the fact that it is “the largest awards processing body in the UK and expect(s) to deal with over 130,000 applications in 2009-2010” (SAAS, 2009). SAAS pays the entire fee of the eligible students (irrespective of financial background) directly to the university or college. The process is handled through annual application system. Additionally, based on the family income, students can further apply for student loans ranging from anywhere between £915 and £4,625. To limit the debt burden, bursaries (non-repayable part of a student loan) are awarded extensively. A maximum of £2,640 a year is given if the household income is £19,310 or less a year, which will go down to zero for a household income cumulates to over £34,195 a year. Moreover, there are further additional loans, supplementary grants and travel expenses that a student can avail during the tenure of his studies, thereby satisfying the financial concerns of a student to the fullest. These loans are payable only after the completion of the degree course on monthly instalments the amount of which is set depending on the income of the person in question (SAAS.2009). In addition to regular full time, university going students, the government has set a set quota from the funding for disabled students. Those suffering with diseases like dyslexia or acute hearing or eyesight problems etc. Despite all the efforts done in the past, the question arises: Is this enough? From the point of view of a layman, a cursory glance at the amount of funding that is coming into the sector and the creditable work being done by SFC and SAAC day and night, one would, undoubtedly, be content with the present policies. It’s too hasty to state whether they are successful or otherwise since it was only in 2005 that the SFC came into being. It takes time to for the investments in education to pay off. However, any expert would beg to differ especially when comparing with universities in England in light of the UK Governments Higher Education Bill. The Bill allows universities in UK to charge the students a fee from £0 to a maximum of £3000. The magnitude of difference in income caused by the act is evident through the following excerpt from a document prepared by Scottish Government. “If three-quarters of university courses are charged at the full £ 3,000, and the remaining one-quarter at existing levels, then ultimately, the fees will generate an approximate 1 billion pounds extra per annum for the English higher education sector” (Scottish government, 2004). This would increase the air of competition between universities in UK and Scotland for better faculty, facilities, labs etc. This a growing concern amongst the university administration was duly voiced by Murdo Fraser, the Tory education spokesman, while talking about the abolishment of the graduation endowment fee in the following words: “She (Ms Hyslop) must be aware about the growing concern there is among Scottish universities that they face a competitive disadvantage as against English institutions due to the additional revenue derived by top-up fees” (BBC, June 2007). Hence any contribution or funding in any way possible, however meagre or large is welcome not only to sustain the standards of education of Scottish Universities but to keep attracting the young generation towards higher education. Without having to worry about fee and other financial concerns, a student can pay full attention to studies alone and utilize his time to the best of abilities. Otherwise, part time jobs and mounting debts culminate in the form of decreased performance at studies. Academics realize the importance of government funding. Neil Bennet wrote in The Journal (2008) about Mr. Ballard, Rector Edinburgh University. I quote: “who (Mr. Ballard) spoke about fees and debt putting many young people off going to university and about the need for widening access.” The gravity of the situation and the need of more funds can be judged by the fact that “Ms Campbell, who at 27 years old is the youngest member of the Scottish Parliament, admitted that she was still paying off her own student debts of around £15,000” (Bennet, 2008). Such a situation would only discourage people to go for higher education, who will try taking the easy way out and skip university altogether. What if the education sector was privatized? Will things change for the better or the worse? Many points of view exist about the issue. Private sector schools, colleges and universities tend to have better standards as seen widely. Better pays attract better faculty. Low student to tutor ratio means better attention and hence better learning. An article was published in the guardian that bears witness to the above mentioned in the following words: “Private sector companies which have taken over failing local education authorities (LEAs) are improving school results faster than the national average” (Bawden, 2005). At the same time, if you have to pay for education, only those students will pursue higher studies who are actually interested to do so. Moreover, the money saved from funding could be used else where in other sectors like health and transport, thereby increasing the standard of social services available to people drastically. On the other hand, privatization would bring along its own disadvantages, higher fee being at the top of the list. This would limit the access of higher education to the ultra rich people only, irrespective of however much more intelligent or deserving the other under privileged students may be. This is a clear violation of the “equal rights for everyone” act. Hence, in my personal view, we should aim at enhancing the standards of government institutes through better funding and management rather than shirking our duty; get an easy way out and hand out the responsibility to private sector, which can plunder and take undue advantage of the masses. In the entire essay, we discussed at length the role of Scottish Government in funding the education in general and higher education in particular through two basic organizations namely Scottish Funding Council and Scottish Award Agency Student. We examined the magnitude of funds being distributed (close to 1.7 billion pounds, how and where it was to be utilized and for what purpose. We ended with the importance of funding and advantages of government institutes over private ones. This helps us conclude that funding of education is a noblest of investments for the better future and Scottish Government is doing its best with this regard. However, to compete with international standards, the monetary investment into the sector should be consistent and grow with each year to cater for better facilities and keep on attracting worthy students to build a better nation, a better world. References Bawden, A. (2005). Schools improved by private sector management. Available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2005/jan/05/schools.uk1. Last accessed 28 July 2009. BBC. (2007). Free nursery place scheme grows. Available: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7082787.stm. Last accessed 28 July 2009. BBC. (June 2007). Graduate endowment fee abolished. Available: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/6744559.stm. Last accessed 28 July 2009. BBC. (2009). Parenting. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/parenting/childcare/available_nurseryschool.shtml. Last accessed 28 July 2009. Bennet, N. (2008). Edinburgh University Rector speaks in favour of free higher education. Available: http://www.journal-online.co.uk/article/2911-edinburgh-university-rector-speaks-in-favour-of-free-higher-education. Last accessed 28 July 2009. Council. (2008). Scotland Funding Council. Available: http://www.sfc.ac.uk/. Last accessed 28 July 2009. Government. (2004). Phase 3 Higher Education Review - The Competitiveness of Higher Education in Scotland: Summary. Available: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/03/19030/34101. Last accessed 28 July 2009. SEED. (2004). National Dossier on Education and Training in Scotland 2004. Available: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2004/06/19476/38578. Last accessed 28 July 2009. SAAS. (2009). Student Awards Agency for Scotland. Available: http://www.saas.gov.uk/. Last accessed 28 July 2009 Wikipedia. (). Public Education. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_education. Last accessed 28 July 2009 Read More