Both Katy and Margaret backed the students’ campaign to tackle student debt in Scotland, and to scrap the fees in England and Wales. Katy said:

“We had a great discussion with the students about why the Lib Dems think university education should be free, and about the increasing problems of student debt. We also talked about how we would fund this free education, through things like better, fairer taxes, and looking at the numbers of people who choose different types of further or higher education.
At a time when everyone is concerned about their finances and job prospects, expecting students to start their working life with thousands of pounds in debts is unacceptable.”

“Having worked with young people over many years with Careers Scotland (now part of Skills Development Scotland) and helped businesses both recruit young people and negotiate their way through redundancy programmes, I totally agree that it is vital that young people get the right advice at the right time to help them plan their careers, particularly in today’s tough economic climate. Unemployment is something that many constituents have expressed concern about, and giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in the job market is vital to improving the current unemployment rates.  In fact, England could perhaps learn from the experience north of the border that an integrated all age careers guidance service is recognised internationally as the most effective way of supporting seamless transitions into learning and employment.”

Alastair Darling was the keynote speaker.  He was upbeat about the chances of economic recovery in 2010, despite the lagging indicators of the recession such as unemployment continuing to show the recession is hitting people hard.  Katy said:

“It is clear from the Chancellor’s speech that he is not serious about genuine reform of the financial services industry. There was nothing to indicate support of measures such as the High Pay Commission, or specific steps to curb the high-risk, short-term big-bonus culture that has already caused so much damage to the economy. We need genuine changes if this sort of financial crisis is to be avoided in future.”

Speaking in support of the outstanding Lib Dem record in government for education and skills, she will urge party colleagues to maintain Glasgow’s reputation as an excellent place to study.

Overseas students contribute thousands to university finances and Glasgow’s economy. So the least we can do is make sure they are made welcome, not ripped off and leave with a great impression of Scotland.

She raised the problems foreign students face in opening bank accounts, in the restrictions on whether they can work and in the bogus colleges that can lose unsuspecting students thousands of pounds. She said:

It is ridiculous that it can take so long for students to open bank accounts. In our computerised and globalised world, it should not be impossible to come up with a speedier way of proving identity.

Higher education is a devolved issue with international repercussions. I want our reputation as a great place to study to continue to grow, with all our institutions rated as highly as Glasgow Caledonian was this week for the overseas student experience. So we need to get the banks and the Holyrood and Westminster governments to work together to sort out these difficulties.