By namorrodor
“For Liam Kerr, education spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives and for Alan Mathieson [https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2023/12/09/scotlands-schools-are-much-better-than-they-used-to-be/], to say whether or not Scotland has a world leading education system they would have to compare Scottish schools and universities with those in other countries around the world”
The problem Liam Kerr has is that he cannot back up his claims without exposing both the truth and how ridiculous his party’s decision to pull the UK out of the EU in 2019 was.
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat produce annual data tables on the performance of EU member countries in terms of tertiary education, amongst other areas. For the ten consecutive years immediately prior to being pulled out of the EU against our will, Scotland topped those tables in terms of the percentage of ‘degree-bestowed’ adults in the workforce – in fact, it was the only country to exceed 50% annually. Whilst that admittedly doesn’t offer a world-wide comparison, I’d hazard a guess that it’s as close to it that is available.
As far as I’m aware, the data used in those tables was gleaned from https://www.hesa.ac.uk/home and its European equivalents. A search of that website can drill down to student numbers and types of degrees attained in each of the four UK Education systems, thereby offering direct comparisons. I think that Mr Kerr assumes, to use the oft-repeated phrase, that our heads zip up at the back and that we wouldn’t be aware of this. Either that or he’s not aware of it himself – in which case he’s not fit to be in the position he is in.
Quite probably the latter applies – I can’t think of one Tory (MP or MSP) who is fit for any position.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
In US only 40% gain higher degree level. Other countries lag behind. Scotland has the most universities per proportion of population – 15. Colleges and apprenticeships. Many other countries have selective education or large fees. Canada is the next highest 56%. Finland is comparable.
In Scotland 30% go from school. 25% mature students. EU students 7%. Down from 15% because of Brexit. Foreign students paying the full cost. Life long learning based on the ability to learn not the ability to pay.
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degrees in what? Very many are worthless and stupid.
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More to Univerdity or college than the degree. Plenty of life lessons and meeting like-minded people.
Jon Mus
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whatever the discipline, students should learn to think analytically and critically
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An article posted on July 31st 2023, on the Universities Scotland website on research it had conducted that indicates a high percentage of success for students after leaving university.
https://www.universities-scotland.ac.uk/graduate-success/
“Research from Universities Scotland highlights the value of going to university, including that:
84.5% of Scottish graduates credit their university with helping them gain employment
74% of Scottish graduates found a job reflective of their ambitions in under a year thanks to their degree
75% of business leaders believe going to university enables graduates to build transferable skills crucial to Scottish industry
Compelling new data released today (Monday 31 July) by Universities Scotland reveals that 84.5% of Scottish graduates credit going to university with enabling them to find the job they wanted.”
It is a long article, and contains more findings.
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A dozy of an article in The Observer today about Scottish Education. Note before you read it that Curriculum for Excellence was adopted by the Labour/LibDem Scottish Executive as policy for schools in 2004. Implementation at primary level had already started when the SNP took over in 2007
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/10/scottish-schools-have-tumbled-from-top-of-the-class-this-is-what-went-wrong
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Rather too much Gin in the Sodha research with that opening paragraph, and least said of ‘Catastrophic’ Paterson the better…. https://archive.ph/tMocJ
It all begins to appear rather orchestrated….
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