§ Mr. James Whiteasked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he intends to have further consultations about the proposal to set up a council for tertiary education in Scotland.
§ Mr. MillanI have issued a consultative paper to interested bodies today, and have placed a copy in the Library of the House. The paper proposes the establishment of a Council for Tertiary Education, on the lines proposed in the supplementary statement on devolution of August 1976 (Cmnd 6585), in advance of devolution coming into effect. It is not envisaged that the Council would have executive powers, nor is it intended that the Council should duplicate or usurp the functions of other bodies already in existence.
The paper suggests a number of issues which the Council might properly consider—for example, joint consideration of academic development in universities and the non-university sector, the common use of facilities, and the compatibility of school curricula and examina 140W tions with the entrance requirements of the tertiary sector. The paper seeks views on whether the remit of the Council should extent to post-school education as a whole or whether it should be confined to higher education in universities and other institutions; and also on the range of interests to be covered, and the balance among them, in the membership of the Council. Comments on the paper have been requested within two months.