At the SNP conference the First Minister and her deputy, John Swinney, both had precisely the same thing to say about university. Here’s Swinney:
“Students from a poorer background have never had a better chance of a place at university than under the SNP”.
And Nicola Sturgeon:
“More students from poorer backgrounds are now going to university”.
More. That’s the test they set: if more poor students are going to uni then the SNP is succeeding. They both talk about “university,” as distinct from other forms of further education. Yes, the ratio of poor kids at uni is rising in Scotland – but shamefully, it’s half the level of England. Worse, the gap is growing (see chart, above).
In fact, every part of the UK is increasing the number of poor students entering university – but everywhere, this happens at a faster rate than Scotland under the SNP (which took power in 2007).
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