Opposition won’t stop Scottish governance bill, claims review chairman

The chairman of the 2012 review of governance of Scottish universities believes the nation's first minister is unlikely to let opposition from universities to proposed legislation on higher education governance stop the bill’s progress.

Ferdinand von Prondzynski, the vice-chancellor of Robert Gordon University, told Research Fortnight that Nicola Sturgeon and the education secretary Angela Constance had assured him that they were committed to the proposal.

On 9 April, the Scottish government published a summary of responses to its consultation on the introduction of a higher education governance bill. The bill would implement a number of recommendations from von Prondzynski’s review, including that university chairs be elected, that the role of university principals be clarified, and that there be a more explicit definition of academic freedom.