INULS Conference Galway

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INULS Conference Galway

• Scots Wha Hae?
• Competition, collaboration and interesting times
  in Scottish University Libraries
• Jon Purcell
• University of St Andrews

2
HE in Scotland Overview

• Scotland is different!
• The Scottish HE context
• Collaboration (SCURL, CASS, SHEDL)
• Research Pooling
• Competition
• Embracing the future

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Some facts about HE

• Long history of higher education (St Andrews 1411
  to Queen Margaret University 2007)
• 21 Higher Education institutions serve a
  population of c. 5m
• Scottish HE a valued brand worldwide
• Research intensive / Widening participation
  imperatives
• Mass participation (46 of school leavers)
• Inequitable distribution of opportunity

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Some more facts!

• New SFC embracing all tertiary education
• Scottish HE funding in crisis severe erosion of
  funding for Higher Education
• Many institutions, government contributions are
  less than 50 of their gross revenue
• Investment in research in recent past
• Increasing emphasis on international students,
  fund raising and commercial partnerships
• Students changes in expectations, skill profile
  and students as customers

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Education comparators

• Primary and secondary education
• Good performance in basic skills (15 year olds)
  and attainment levels are rising in primary and
  secondary stages
• Higher Education
• Participation in HE is above OECD and UK averages
• workforce with degrees rising (23) those with
  no qualifications falling (10)
• Scotland performs very well academically
• Productivity has risen (1991 2001) (funding
  vs number of students educated)

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How are we doing?

• Primary and secondary education
• Good performance in basic skills (15 year olds)
  and attainment levels are rising in primary and
  secondary stages
• Higher Education
• Participation in HE is above OECD and UK averages
• workforce with degrees rising (23) those with
  no qualifications falling (10)
• Scotland performs very well academically
• Productivity has risen (1991 2001) (funding
  vs number of students educated)

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Volume Impact of Research in Scottish
Universities
0.1 world funding, 1.0 citations
8
Student Completion Rates
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Collaboration

• SCURL (www.scurl.ac.uk)
• Co-Ordinates HE Library collaboration
• Sponsors projects (CASS/SHEDL)
• Advocacy (SFC, SLIC, NLS, )
• Affiliated collaborative working
• Buildings symposia
• Networking and partnerships

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Collaborative Academic Store for Scotland (CASS)

• 6,000m of collaborative journal storage
• Moving from project to full service
• A Scottish Copy / UKRR
• Collaborative Managed Retention
• SPIS (Shared Preservation In Scotland)
• Distributed Store
• Realising the potential of collaboration

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Scottish Higher Education Digital Library (SHEDL)

• Project to create Scottish version of IREL
• SCURL investigative feasibility study
• Building on SNIPES, SCABS, McClelland
• Possible collaboration with NHS, NLS
• (University Library of Scotland)

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Staff Development Collaboration

• Lots and lots of staff development and training!
• CILIPS
• SALCTG
• TAFLIN
• SCURL / Sub Groups
• Universities Scotland / Leadership Foundation

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Competition Scotland v The world

• Universities benchmarking against their
  international peers
• Universities defining their ambition in global
  terms
• to be one of the small number of institutions
  recognised as being the best in the world U
  of Glasgow, 2006
• to be a truly international university but no
  less Scottish U of St Andrews, 2005
• Universities establishing networks to support
  ambition
• E.g. U21, WUN
• Internationalisation at home abroad

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The internationalisation of HE

• Increasing competition public and private
  providers
• European agenda to deliver to Lisbon goals
• New education hubs being established e.g. Dubai
• Scotland seeking inward flow of international
  students
• Prepare home graduates for global market place
  global citizenship
• Support staff to enhance the learning of a
  diverse community
• Many models of delivery external campuses,
  international universities or partnerships

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Competition funding

• Short term, CSR 2007 2009, anticipate this
  round will be difficult for universities
• Top-up fees in England competitive advantage
  (3,000 CAP)
• Impact of top-up fees on social inclusion yet to
  be determined
• SNP policy on student fees / university funding
• Requirement to diversify funding base
• The development of fund-raising as a major
  activity in Scottish institutions

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Competition Managing Research

• The environment, increased selectivity over last
  2 decades
• Focus on research as a key driver of reputation
  and kudos
• RAE driving selectivity and funding
• World class research in a small country
• Issues of critical mass, excellence, investment
  in world class research and better interface to
  RD
• Institutional responses to increase research
  profile
• Separate career paths, differentiating
  recruitment policies
• Selective approaches to managing teaching in
  early years
• Rewards for research performance may have
  negative consequences for teaching and the
  student experience

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Research Pools Science Scotland

• Well established
• Chemistry (Eastchem and Westchem)
• SUPA (Scottish Universities Physics Alliance)
• Newer
• ERP and SRP (Engineering Maths)
• SAGES (Geo- and earth sciences)
• SIRE (Economics)
• SULSA (Biology)
• Sinapse (Medical Imaging)
• Under development
• Marine science, computing informatics, creative
  arts, Gaelic language culture

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Research Pooling? Why?

• A strong research base in Scotland
• 9 of UK population, but 12 of research funds
  high level of publication and invention, patents
  and spin out companies from UK HE
• Difficult for Scottish universities to compete
  with the golden triangle of London, Oxbridge and
  Manchester
• Lack of critical mass, some poor results in RAE
• Introduction of tuition fees in England a
  potential threat
• Tradition of working collaboratively in Scotland

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Aims of Research Pooling

• Need to enhance research competitiveness
• Creation of more attractive research environment
• RAE joint submissions
• Sharing resources and research facilities
• Making Scottish universities more attractive to
  research stars
• Better links to enterprise new opportunities for
  spin out companies
• Inclusivebut based on excellence

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Collaboration Conclusions

• A positive imperative for change, development and
  dynamism
• Libraries at the forefront of change
• Size matters! Scotland can achieve!
• Builds on other generic developments ie Research
  Pooling
• It works because Librarians make it work!
• (Almost) Universal buy in from Librarians

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Competition Conclusions

• It exists (Glasgow/Edinburgh!) (SLIC/SCURL) but
  working to reduce
• Danger of duplication / wasted effort
• Life is never simple or boring
• Does provide motivation/stimulation
• Greater degree of collaboration than competition

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Collaboration, competition and diversity
conclusions

• Scotlands HE sector is diverse education
  provision, market forces, research, applied
  research
• SFC challenges are generic research excellence,
  widening participation, internationalisation,
  employability
• Building on diversity is important
• Large numbers of institutions in Scotland, with
  some clusters collaboration/integration/mergers?
• How many world class institutions does Scotland
  need / can Scotland sustain / support?
• Regional dimensions and local need
• Local provision by local institutions ?

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Embracing the Future

• Tomorrow looks good
• Real challenges
• Huge opportunities
• Scottish HE has driven forwards during a time of
  major expansion and significant change
• Scottish institutions are well placed to
  capitalise in different ways
• We will excel in tomorrows tomorrow, but
  probably in ways we do not expect or cannot
  predict today

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Tomorrow looks good!

• Real challenges
• Huge opportunities
• Scottish HE has driven forwards during a time of
  major expansion and significant change
• Scottish institutions are well placed to
  capitalise in different ways
• We will excel in tomorrows tomorrow, but
  probably in ways we do not expect or cannot
  predict today

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And in conclusion

• The best way
• to predict the future
• is to invent it

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My thanks to

• Andrea Nolan (Vice Principal), Glasgow University
  and Sheila Cannell (Director of Library Services)
  Edinburgh University for use of their material in
  this presentation