07/08/2012 Newsnight Scotland


07/08/2012

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area around them reduces. We are out of time.

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Unease now Scotland tonight: a house of Commons committee says

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that the legal authority for a referendum must end with Miss --

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and must rest with Westminster. But cant MPs change the law if they

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want? And exam results are sinking in. Can we be sure that further are

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higher education is necessarily the best step for everyone?

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The house of Commons Scottish Affairs Select Committee has

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published a report suggesting that there is overwhelming evidence that

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holding an independence referendum would be beyond the current powers

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of a Scottish parliament. Any attempt, they say, would end in

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legal wrangling through the courts. A special order, a section 30

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notice could be issued. I was beat the committee's chairman,

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Ian Davidson MP. But Andrew Tickell also told us that there was no

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argument that it would be legal for her Holyrood to hold a referendum.

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There is a lack of case law in terms of the constitution which

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makes it clear that the powers are either out with -- are bedecked

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with are in it. What the Scotland Act does and says it is that

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Holyrood has power over everything that is not reserved to Westminster,

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and every argument against this is that it is absolutely clear. It is

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by no means clear -- as as clear as he claims. There is the persuasive

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argument that it is contrary to the Parliament Act to have fun

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referendum on independence. I am joined by Ian Davidson, who

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chairs their house of Commons Scottish Affairs Select Committee.

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It is a fact legally that there is no lock -- knock-down argument on

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either side and you could lose this in court? The overwhelming balance

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of legal opinion that we received was that it is absolutely clear

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that the responsibility for the constitution, the relationship

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between Scotland and England, lies with Westminster. That was quite

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specifically in Scotland that it was agreed by the Scottish people

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in the referendum in 1997. I do understand of course that it UK

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lawyer's enough, they will argue a contrary case. No lawyer that we

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have come across a tall says that the Scottish Government has the

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power to conduct a referendum on their own. The most that they will

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say is that it is an arguable case, as you Speaker there said, which

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means that it would end up being disputed in court. That is quite an

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astonishing proposition to say that a lawyer's to are engaging and get

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an alternative viewpoint I doing it because if you pay at lawyer enough

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they will give you an alternative viewpoint. If you hire a lawyer to

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fight the case for you, he will fight that case. That is the point.

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The point is that there is no case law in this. You have eminent

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lawyers both saying that actually this could go the other way,

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because we do not have the case law on this. The point is... None of

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them say that it would not end up in court if the Scottish government

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tried to do it on its own. That is the point. The point is whether you

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win or lose in court. No, it is not. The point is that we want to have a

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speedy referendum. My side want to get this resolved, we want to have

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a referendum, because we think we're going to win quite frankly.

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We believe that having an agreement between Westminster and Scotland

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through a section 30 notice, where there is no dispute about the

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legality, is by far the best way forward. If you want that, been

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legally, there is nothing to stop you tomorrow, putting in up to

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process the section 30 permission. But will he do that? Of course.

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Before you explain that, you must as separate out the wall back,

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which you could do. You could get their section 30 order through it

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any point. Or you could attach conditions, and that political

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decision as were the problem lies legally. Instead of going ahead

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with a legal solution, the attached conditions to it, which is a

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political solution. I understand it Newsnight Scotland's position is

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that the power should be given to the people. I cannot let to

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continue. That is a ludicrous proposition. And I'm about to

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answer you... I am asking you perfectly reasonable question that

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I am entitled Ask. Of course, and I am entitled to answer. You are

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suggesting that time predicated my question on a preconception...

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is a general political view. That Newsnight Scotland is biased in

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favour of the Scottish Parliament handling all these issues

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themselves. Our position is not that. Our position is that

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Westminster had been given powers to deal with that Mathur -- to deal

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with the matter of the Scottish referendum. Our legitimacy comes

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from the referendum. We then have legitimacy to decide how these

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matters should be dealt with. We then have power if we wish to

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handed over to Scotland. But we choose not to do so. Before we

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continue, it perhaps might be appropriate at this stage if you

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would like to apologise to me for suggesting that I have come into

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this interview in any way biased against your argument Party won

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political party are another. No one on this programme works in this way

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and it is offensive that to suggest that. I have already complained

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about the way in which Newsnight Scotland begins. I think you are

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clearly biased against in the Unionist parties and if that causes

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you concern any need to realise that you are not above the fray. If

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you want to stand for election do so, otherwise you should be nor

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neutral. If I absolutely reject what you say there, and there is

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plenty of evidence to refute that. Are you saying that you drive your

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mandate from the 1997 referendum? Let us then say that people going

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and the 1997 referendum had undermined whether a future

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referendum conducted by their Holyrood Parliament would relate to

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this, how late it possibly relate this? In 1997 there were a whole

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number of things being proposed. One of which was the ongoing

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relationship between Scotland and England, are Scotland and the rest

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of the United Kingdom, and the responsibility for constitutional

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matters. It was quite clear, because it was debated at the time,

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that it should lie at Westminster. That was what was in the Scotland

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Act and that is what people voted for in the referendum. Moral

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authority in this matter does lie with Westminster. The chair of the

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Scottish constitutional Convention is writing that if the Unionists

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claimed that -- are in effect saying that only way that

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Scotland's people can be sovereign is a through independence. That is

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the logical conclusion of their position. It is not. My position

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and the committee's agreement is that we want to see an agreement on

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how the referendum should pull forward, because we believe that it

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is in Scotland's interest to have this resolved as quickly as

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possible. We want to have all the issues hope fully debated and

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agreed between the two parliaments. But if it is not possible to reach

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an agreement in the responsibility does lie with Westminster. We're

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worried that those who face defeat in the referendum will try to spin

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this out, either through legal Now, about 160,000 people received

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their exam results today, which means the best part of million of

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us have been on tenterhooks on behalf of friends or family

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directly affected. I hope it went well for you, but whether it did or

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didn't, it's time to be considering whether the next obvious step,

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perhaps into higher education, is necessarily the best thing for you

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or yours. In a moment I'll be speaking to a university leader

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with a unique point of view on all this, but first, Catriona Renton

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reports. Right, folks, in honour of the

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Olympics we will open the envelopes together. I will do a count down.

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Three, two, one. Red! Is a memory that still fills the

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many of us with dread, the trepidation of opening the big

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envelope. It could be an e-mail or text nowadays. Congratulations.

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Pupils at in the Clyde academy went through it in front of the

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television cameras. This means I can say what I want this year and

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it means I will have a basis to get a good job. It is all right for me.

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I want to go for mechanics after- school so I think I have done well

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enough. It was like having no life. I went home and I constantly

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studied. I did my homework. To many tears and tantrums but it was so

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were fit, I am so proud of her. She is a star.

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160,000 students in Scotland got their exam results today. Pass

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rates are up again. Standard Grades are not 0.4% on last year. Highers

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are up 1.8% to 76.9%. That is up 7% in the last 10 years. Advanced

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tyres are also up. The Education Secretary rejected suggestions that

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the exams are not hard enough. answer is tried exams yourself. I

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could not pass a lot of these exams myself. I could not pass many of

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them. I suspect that is true of you and many of us. This is hard work

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which we should be glad of. Within the figures, some subjects have

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suffered a fall in pass rates and others have suffered a rise. That

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indicates that some subjects have years in which people pass and a

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years in which people find it more difficult. What we are seeing is

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good work in Scotland's schools. these students in Kilmarnock know

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today is about celebrating their achievements. Where do these exams

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really lead? Getting a job is not that easy.

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Youth unemployment has reached an all-time high, almost one-quarter

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are out of work. Statistically if you want to get a job, it still

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appears to be the right thing to do to get a degree. 90% of graduates

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that left university last year are either in paid employment or

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further studies. Only 7% are assumed to be unemployed. When you

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drill down deeper into those statistics, of those working,

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around one quarter are only doing part-time hours and a significant

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proportion are doing jobs that traditionally would not be

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considered to be graduate jobs. This young entrepreneurs started up

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his own business when he was 13 and he has now 22. He says higher

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education is not the answer for everyone. Any body that once to run

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their own business themselves, doing it is better than anything

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else. We all make mistakes but they are the same mistakes were the have

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the education or not. University does not know how to teach you how

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to handle a customer or how to sell, these are skills you have to learn

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on the job. University is great if you want to be a specialist in a

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particular field but if you want to go out and be an entrepreneur,

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there is not a lot you can study. If you're not ready to start your

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business then education is great but if you were at this stage I was

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that way you want to get out and do it, there is no benefit to it at

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all. Perhaps that is just it, one size does not fit all. The Scottish

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government has guaranteed every 16 to 19-year-old can get a place in

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training and there is a helpline to give them a hand.

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The Open University in Scotland has seen a rise of almost 50% in the

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last five years in applications from students under 25. I'm joined

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now by Dr James Miller, who's director of the OU in Scotland.

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What do you think is behind the figures of the under 25 increase?

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There is a multitude of factors contributing to this. Undoubtedly

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there is the increasing competition in campers based universities which

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is one of the factors. More and more young people are looking at

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the opportunity of going into employment and combining that with

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higher education study, through distance learning opportunities

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like those at the Open University. We have seen that dramatic increase

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over the past five years. Has what people want to study the change?

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What is attracting people at the moment? Because of the flexibility

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of the courses that are offered by the Open University, it offers a

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wider choice. Over the years, these have remained broadly the same. As

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well as offering the discipline, specific content knowledge, steady

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inflexibly part-time also gives additional benefits to students, so

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they can demonstrate to employers their resilience, timekeeping, the

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ability to apply their learning in real life, as opposed to studying

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and then moving into employment at a later date. Clearly this works.

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The Open University has returned the highest levels of student

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satisfaction in the National Student Survey since it started in

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2005. No other university has been able to achieve that. A what a

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drop-out rates like? He it is very difficult to identify drop-out

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rates because of the way in which people learn. Some people can learn

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over three years or more and some will take 12 years to complete a

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degree. It is as flexible as it needs to be. You think that is a

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strength of the system? It is because it allows students to adapt

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their steady to their lifestyle which might be about employment but

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it might be about other things. We have a number of students who are

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currently competing in the Olympics and the Paralympics to have

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combined that lifestyle with their study. If depending on the subject,

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how valuable -- how valuable is higher education? I think it is

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very valuable. What employers are looking for is very many of the

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graduate qualities that higher education produces. Of course that

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can be done in a variety of ways. The piece was mentioning their that

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we have a very diverse sector which produces a very diverse set of

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graduates which is good for the economy and it is good for Scotland.

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Do you think you have an advantage where we have concerns about

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graduates coming out and being overtaken by subsequent graduates

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and the employers will one the ones closest to graduation, do you have

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more flexibility in that system? Absolutely, they can adapt their

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subject choices as well. It is about Rees killing. Thank you very

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much. Now a quick look at tomorrow's

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front pages. So Chris Hoy is everywhere. The

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Daily Mail is liaising with Chris Hoy triumphing again. He is

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Britain's greatest ever Olympian. He is also on the front page of the

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Scotsman. The Guardian also have Britain's golden games, the biggest

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gold medal haul since 19 oh wait. The Herald is going its own way

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with the sports tycoon Mike Ashley who is buying a stake in Rangers.

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That's all from me. If you want to see the programme again it's on the

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