As we are approaching the end of the parliamentary recess, we may soon hear about the Scottish Government's reflections on the myriad of education and skills-related reports that were published just before the summer.

It felt as if after a lengthy hiatus in higher education policy all our buses had arrived at once: We saw the publication of the reports from the National Discussion on Education, the Hayward Review of Scottish Qualifications and Assessment, the Withers Report on the Skills Delivery Landscape in Scotland, and finally the report on the Purpose and Principles of Post-school Education, Research and Skills.

This jigsaw puzzle of inter-relating reports and recommendations have the potential to have far-reaching consequences for lifelong learning in Scotland. And of course, those most directly impacted the students themselves.

For over 50 years the Open University (OU) in Scotland has delivered high-quality, personalised, supported distance learning to students across Scotland. With more than 21,000 students, we are the fourth-largest university in Scotland and have students in every part of the country from Shetland to the Scottish Borders. We are proud to be Scotland’s national widening access university with more Scottish students studying with the OU than any other university; in fact, 68% of all part-time undergraduate students choose the OU. We also help employers across public, private and third sectors to develop their workforces and build skills - making a significant contribution to the country’s economic growth and societal wellbeing. At the OU our mission is to support students, whatever their age and background, and regardless of prior qualifications. We recognise that people enter higher education at different stages of their lives and often must balance their studies with work, caring responsibilities or other commitments.

Therefore we were pleased to see many of the arguments we made in our submission to the inquiry reflected in the final report by James Withers, particularly the recommendation for students “undertaking part-time learning or pursuing certain approved accelerated retraining programmes to receive the same pro-rata level of funding support for living costs as those in full time education.” This would be a welcome removal of a barrier to studying and retraining for many students and one we have been advocating for some time now. At the same time, we suggest the Scottish Government considers increasing the Part-time Fee Grant threshold which has remained the same at £25k since its introduction a decade ago. Recent cost-of-living pay increases are welcome, but they mean that we are receiving daily calls from students telling us they will have to either pause or stop their studies as their salaries have now breached the threshold and without the fee grant, they cannot afford to continue studying. Many of these students work in health and social care – a critical workforce.

There has clearly been much for the Scottish Government, the sector, employers and other stakeholders to reflect upon within these reports over the summer and we are keen to collaborate on taking this forward. One thing is for sure, and that is that at The Open University we will remain focused on delivering for students’ success and access to higher education to everyone.

Susan Stewart is Director, The Open University in Scotland