Scottish Greens oppose REF and TEF in election manifesto

The Scottish Greens have pledged to oppose “artificially competitive” higher education funding mechanisms, including the Research Excellence Framework (REF) and Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF), if victorious in the upcoming Holyrood election. 

The party released its election manifesto on 14 April as Scottish voters prepare to head to the polls in May. 

It promised to oppose “any attempt” to introduce tuition fees for Scottish students and introduce a national hardship fund to support university and college students during the summer, when they do not receive maintenance loans. 

If victorious, the party said it would oppose the “marketisation of higher education”, including the REF and the TEF.

Participation in the TEF, overseen by the English regulator the Office for Students, was optional for Scottish institutions the last time the exercise was run. 

The Greens also committed to participating in ongoing cross-party discussions to find a sustainable funding settlement for universities. 

Although polls suggest the Scottish National Party is set to remain in government after the May election, the Scottish Greens are expected to gain more seats. 

Recent polling by Ipsos suggested that the Greens could become the Scottish parliament’s second biggest party, potentially winning 17 seats.

The party’s wide-ranging manifesto also promises to suspend interest payments on student loans during maternity and parental leave to “tackle the additional costs which overwhelmingly fall on women”. 

Even though Scottish students do not pay tuition fees, they can apply for government-funded maintenance loans to cover their living costs.

The Greens also said they would support international students by “continuing to place pressure on the UK government to enhance and expand the post-study work visa programme”.

Last year, the Westminster government announced plans to reduce the length of the graduate visa from two years to 18 months, which universities suggest is dampening demand for study in the UK.

The party promised to provide additional government support for scholarships for Palestinian and Ukrainian students. 

“For too long, the Scottish government has failed to provide a clear direction for universities and colleges, leaving them at the mercy of the financial marketplace,” the document reads. 

“The Scottish Greens will set out a clear vision which values the role further and higher education will play in building a fairer, greener Scotland.”

But the Institute for Fiscal Studies suggested that the party’s overall proposals have not been fully costed. 

“Delivering the full set of spending increases planned by the Scottish Greens would require even more revenue than would be generated by the increases in taxes that the party seems to have assumed,” the thinktank said in a statement. 

“More generally, the scale of change proposed is huge – whether plans could be delivered over a parliament, even if funding were available, is far from clear.”

helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com