Part-time learning works

The Scottish Parliament building

The 2026 Scottish Parliament election is an opportunity to choose to take a different approach to supporting part-time students. For too long parliamentarians have primarily focused on the traditional four-year full-time campus-based degree to the detriment of part-time learners.

That is why our 2026 Scottish Parliament Election Manifesto (PDF, 671 KB) is calling for the next parliament to have a laser focus on part-time students, prioritising their funding and support to enable a paradigm shift to lifelong learning.

This should take the form of:

The creation of an equitable student financial support system so that part-time students have access to the same allowances, benefits and loans as their full-time peers.
An increase to the threshold for the Part-Time Fee Grant adjusted for inflation, addressing the fact that it hasn’t altered since its introduction in 2013.
The creation of a new Fund to support employers and employees looking to upskill and re-skill.

Doing so we believe will help the next Scottish Government to:

Deliver the National Strategy for Economic Transformation.
Care for an ageing population.
Support Scotland’s SMEs to plug skills gaps.
Support Scotland’s employers to meet the unfilled demand for apprenticeship places.
Deliver the Net Zero transformation with high skills.

We work with businesses, employers, communities, and individuals to provide workplace skills. Read the case studies and hear from the workforce in their own words.

I’m Martin Boyle, I am Director of The Open University in Scotland, and as we look forward to the next election, we see that The Open University plays a really important role in unlocking opportunities for the people of Scotland.

The Open University has an incredibly proud tradition for over 50 years, as Scotland's national university for widening access and lifelong learning, and we see that as being incredibly important now, just as it was when we launched. It was a really radical idea to start The Open University back in the 60s, and it's still radical today, and it's still as relevant now. We think that idea of widening access to all and allowing everyone to study a university degree in Scotland is key to improving the skills needs, meeting the needs of business and industry and supporting the Scottish Government to meet their ambitions for the future. The people of Scotland do deserve the opportunity to upskill and to reskill, particularly in a time when industry’s changing so incredibly fast. The digital revolution has been happening for a long time now, the internet is changing the way we work every single day, and we know that things like AI are also going to radically change the future of learning.

So we think that The Open University has a really important role to play in offering future skills provision, and we are really keen to work right across Scotland's political spectrum to find solutions to do that. Education has long opened doors and unlocked opportunity for people, and that's a really important part of meeting the future needs of the nation.

So key to what we think Scotland's political parties need to consider in the future are bringing in a new fund to provide reskilling, upskilling, training opportunities for people working with individuals, but also working with business and industry to meet their training needs at pace. We would be really keen to see an increase in the threshold for the Part-Time Fee Grant, which has stayed the same way since 2013 and rising with inflation would unlock new opportunities for people in key sectors right across Scotland. We would also like to see an equitable support system for part time learners across Scotland to ensure that they have access to the same types of support as full time learners at university. We are keen to work with people right across the political spectrum and with the government as we move towards the 2026 election in Scotland to ensure that The Open University’s radical, exciting model for future delivery is part of the future solution to Scotland's skills landscape now and in the future.

Examples of how we are 'Opening Doors to Opportunity' can be found in our 2024 Annual Review, including how we are driving start-up innovation and inclusion through key partnerships as well as developing skills for a stronger economy.

Meet our students and alumni and read their inspiring stories from across Scotland.

Discover some key facts and figures (PDF, 1.62 MB) about the OU in Scotland.

For further information, or to discuss the OU's Scottish Parliament Manifesto 2026, contact the OU in Scotland's Senior Public Affairs Manager, Keith Robson.