A climate of fear? The Scottish universities and the question of devolution, 1974–9

Abstract

This article seeks to examine the debate in the Scottish universities during the 1974–9 period, when the Labour government proposed to create a devolved Scottish Assembly. An anti-devolution consensus among university leaders is analysed and the arguments for and against devolution are considered. The article discusses the way in which the perceived result of devolution would be ‘parochialism’, while the advantages of the status quo were seen as ‘internationalist’. Nationalist critiques of the ‘Anglocentric’ universities are discussed. The arguments for devolution centred on bringing the Scottish universities into an integrated system of post-16 education in Scotland. Student opinion, as well as the views of senior academics, is noted. The debate is contextualized as part of the discussion of the merits of devolution but also as part of wider debates about the governance of the university system in Britain in the 1970s. The operation of the University Grants Committee was coming under severe stress as a result of wider economic conditions, and the Scottish debate is seen as part of a wider series of questions about the autonomy of universities from the state. The apparent paradox between the veneration of the British grants committee and the emphasis on the traditions of higher education in Scottish culture and identity are also discussed.