Scottish institutions need an extra 4,000 postgraduates by 2010-11 in a bid to get closer to UK norms and create the next generation of academics, according to Universities Scotland.
Scotland currently has a 12 per cent share of the UK's students, but 8 per cent of taught postgraduates, fewer than 22,000. It has 12 per cent of university research but 9.3 per cent of research postgraduates, fewer than 7,000.
Universities Scotland argues that increased postgraduate numbers are crucial to underpin both the country's high-tech industries and the higher education sector itself. In its bid to the Comprehensive Spending Review, Universities Scotland said the sector needed a 15 per cent real-terms increase in public funds - an extra £168 million over three years, which would bring total public funding to £1.2 billion.