Blog: Rays of Sunshine in Research Gloom
Tuesday 2nd December
By Keith Robson
Keith Robson reflects on the latest Understanding Scotland Economy Tracker insights and how it connects to his work with The Open University in Scotland.
The Open University is the largest provider of part-time higher education in Scotland and is a world leader in providing innovative and flexible distance learning opportunities.
Last week I had the pleasure of attending the latest ‘Understanding Scotland’s Economy Tracker’ breakfast briefing. I’m a regular as you always get an interesting and often challenging perspective from the keynote speakers - and the audience. It aligns with the Open University’s mission to be open to people, places, methods and ideas.
At each event the results of the survey are expertly explained by Scott Edgar, from the Diffley Partnership. Delivered with humour in a straight-forward manner, Scott sets out what the survey data means for the people behind the figures. This quarter the David Hume Institute arranged reflections from Catherine McWilliam, from the Institute of Directors Scotland and Shan Saba, Director of Brightworks, Scotland’s leading recruitment agency to discuss the findings.
Let’s not beat about the bush - there is not much optimism in the findings.
Two out of three respondents reported that general economic conditions have worsened over the last twelve months. A further three in four respondents expect the general economy to worsen over the next year. Over half of respondents have cut back on non-essential spending.
The Open University is Scotland’s national widening access and lifelong learning university. We are the largest provider of undergraduate part-time higher education in Scotland. Therefore I was particularly struck by the Labour Market insights.
More than half of respondents said they would need to retrain or upskill if they want to get a new job. One in five said that they had not had any training through their employer since their initial induction.
The 2025 OU Business Barometer
These figures chime with the OU’s Business Barometer 2025 - a survey of 2000 senior decision makers across the UK; over half (52%) representing small and medium-sized businesses. Plus one thousand members of Gen Z (aged between 18 and 24) were also surveyed for the report.
For respondents in Scotland one in three say that budget constraints/lack of funding are barriers to offering more training. We also found a mismatch between employers and employees about training and job retention which was a discussion point with Catherine and Shan who shared their experiences.
The survey found that concerns about money matters were particularly prevalent for respondents in lower SIMD area, the young age group and those with children. Again, this mirrors our experiences of calls from students and in turn a reduced take-up of the Part Time Fee Grant for those students earning £25,000 or less per annum.
The OU’s Scottish Parliament election manifesto Skills for Life calls for a greater focus on flexible part-time learning with the need for upskilling and reskilling in the labour market. You can read more here.
So where does the sunshine come from amidst the gloomy outlook?
For me it is in our students’ success. We are supporting thousands of students to study in flexible ways that fit with their other commitments. Each year our graduation ceremonies are full of stories the bring rays of sunshine and hope.
I wholeheartedly recommend spending five minutes looking at the heartwarming stories on our website and challenge you not to feel uplifted.
