Government should reject new university governance code, says union

The union said cabinet secretary, Michael Russell, should call for further revisions to the Scottish Code of Good Higher Education Governance and fully implement a review of university governance led by Professor Ferdinand Von Prondzynski. More on that review can be found at our campaign page.

During a Scottish Parliamentary debate on the Post-16 Act, Mr Russell said he would seek to implement the Von Prondzynski review in areas not covered by the code. UCU said that must now be his priority.

Despite extensive consultation there is still no commitment in the code that ensures staff and student voices will be heard during key decisions taken by universities. UCU said the code looked like it had been 'written by managers for managers'.

UCU Scotland president, Dave Anderson, said: "This looks like a code written by managers for managers, which is perhaps unsurprising considering the lack of staff and student involvement in the steering group and code development.

"We need to be able to have faith in the actions of our universities and complete confidence in the transparency of the decisions taken at all levels. This simply won't happen without proper involvement from staff and student unions.

"We call on the Cabinet Secretary to reject the code in its current form and push forward with his original plans to implement the von Prondzynski review in full."