Scottish higher education and the Scottish parliament

The consequences of mistaken national identity

Bibliographic Data

ID12417841
AuthorsLindsay Paterson (0000-0002-2745-3531, Education Scotland, corresponding author)
Year1998
Volume6
Issue4
Pages459-474
Publication date1998-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1062-7987 • E-ISSN: 1474-0575
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1062798700003616
OpenAlexW2102696983
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited31

The creation of a Scottish parliament in 1999 will crystallize a cultural crisis for Scottish higher education. Scottish universities retained their autonomy after the 18th-century union between Scotland and England because the union was about high politics rather than the affairs of civil society and culture. Unlike in England, the universities developed in close relationship with Scottish agencies of the state during the 19th century, and these agencies also built up a system of non-university higher education colleges. In the 20th century, the universities (and later some of the colleges) sought to detach themselves from Scottish culture and politics, favouring instead a common British academic network. So the new constitutional settlement faces Scottish higher education institutions with an enforced allegiance to the Scottish nation that will sharply disrupt their 80-year interlude as outposts of the British polity

Allegiance · Autonomy · Home rule · Identity (music · National identity · Parliament · Political science · Politics · Polity · Settlement (finance · Sociology · State (computer science · Law · Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering · Political Systems and Governance · Public Administration · Scottish History and National Identity