Organisation
There are fifteen universities in Scotland and three other institutions of higher education which have the authority to award academic degrees. The University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) gained full university status in 2011, having been created through the federation of 13 colleges and research institutions across the Highlands and Islands, a process that began in 2001.
All Scottish universities have the power to award degrees at all levels: undergraduate, taught postgraduate, and doctoral. Education in Scotland is controlled by the Scottish Government under the terms of the Scotland Act 1998. The minister responsible for higher education is the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, currently Mike Russell MSP of the Scottish National Party. University status in Scotland and throughout the United Kingdom today is conferred by the Privy Council which takes advice from the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.
Funding
All Scottish universities are public universities and funded by the Scottish Government (through its Scottish Funding Council) and financial support is provided for Scottish-domiciled students by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland. Students ordinarily resident in Scotland or the European Union do not pay tuition fees for their first undergraduate degree, but tuition fees are charged for those from the rest of the United Kingdom. All students are required to pay tuition fees for postgraduate education (e.g. MSc, PhD), except in certain priority areas funded by the Scottish Government, or if another source of funding can be found (e.g. research council studentship for a PhD). A representative body called Universities Scotland works to promote Scotland's universities, as well as six other higher education institutions.
Students
In 2013-14, 230,805 students studied at universities or institutes of higher education in Scotland, 181,826 of which were full-time, 57.6% were female and 42.4% male, with 67% being domiciled in Scotland, 12% from the rest of the United Kingdom, and the remaining 21% being international students. Of all these, approximately 151,325 were studying for their first degree (i.e. undergraduate level), 41,925 for a taught postgraduate degree (primarily a Masters degree) and 12,180 for a doctoral research degree (primarily PhD). The remaining 25,375 were mostly on other programmes such as the Higher National Diploma. Of all these, 15,205 were studying in Scotland with The Open University via distance-learning, and the Open University teaches 40 per cent of Scotland's part-time undergraduates.
Scottish Universities Summer Schools in Physics
The Scottish Universities Summer School in Physics (SUSSP) was established in 1960 by the four ancient Scottish Universities (Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and St. Andrews) to contribute to the dissemination of advanced knowledge in physics and the formation of contacts among scientists from different countries through the setting up of a series of annual summer schools of the highest international standard. As of 2014 it had increased to include Dundee, Glasgow Caledonian, Heriot-Watt, Paisley, and Strathclyde. SUSSP70 (International Neutrino Summer School) was held at University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Scotland (10 - 22 August 2014).