Your Questions Answered: The SFC’s Decision on University Funding

Dear students,

We know that the University’s financial situation continues to cause uncertainty and concern. You deserve clear information about the decisions affecting its future, including those made by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).

Last month, the SFC declined the University’s request to release £7 million of funding previously made available through the Scottish Government’s Section 25 funding package. Its stated reason was that the University’s available cash exceeded the £30 million threshold set out in the funding conditions.

We wrote directly to the SFC to ask for an explanation that we could share with students. Their response is reproduced below.

“I want to recognise how hard this period has been for the student community at the University, and we will continue to ensure that monitoring the student experience plays a central part of our oversight of the University. As the University continues to transition as it returns to financial sustainability, ensuring that the student experience is maintained will be of utmost importance. You can read more about how we gather assurance from the institutions that we fund via our Outcomes Framework and Assurance Model (OFAM), where Student interests, access and success is one of the key outcomes we monitor.

We remain committed to the long-term sustainability and success of the University. When we receive and assess drawdown requests, we need to consider compliance with the conditions of funding which are available to read on the SFC website. Regarding the recent drawdown request, in this instance, we determined that the University had not met the funding conditions because they had more than £30m of available cash at the time, i.e. they had exceeded the maximum funding threshold. In reaching this conclusion we followed a robust process, including third-party review, to consider the financial details of the drawdown request.

Funding can only be released if all of the conditions of funding are being met. As a public body, the Scottish Funding Council has a responsibility to ensure accountability for public funds, which includes ensuring that public funds are not released in advance of need. The process for this request has now concluded.

However, we are continuing to work closely with the University Executive Team through regular dialogue to support its return to a position of financial sustainability, and to monitor cash balances, and we will respond to any further drawdown requests submitted to us based on the evidence available at that point. The funding provided by the Scottish Government section 25 order remains available into 2027 for future drawdown requests should the University meet the conditions for funding.”

The key clarification is that the SFC has declined this particular request; it says the Section 25 funding remains available into 2027, subject to the University meeting the funding conditions.

The University provided a full summary and Q&A arising from a staff town hall meeting following the SFC decision not to release the additional funding at this time. You can read the University’s summary and Q&A here

Best wishes,
DUSA Executive Team