SCHOLARS have raised concerns that a planned shake-up in the governance of higher education will result in an "entirely inappropriate" level of governmental intervention.

The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) told MSPs that universities should not be treated like public sector bodies just because they receive some funding from public sources.

The educational charity, whose fellows are drawn from a wide range of disciplines including science and humanities, was responding to the Scottish Government's controversial Higher Education Governance Bill which is seeking to reform universities' powerful ruling Courts by introducing elected chairs in future and stipulating representation from trade unions for the first time.

The move has caused divisions in the sector. Universities Scotland, which represents university principals, previously urged ministers to drop the plans - but Professor Ferdinand von Prondzynski, the principal of Robert Gordon University, backed the changes.

In its submission to the Scottish Parliament's Education and Culture Committee, the RSE has raised concerns over the lack of clarity around the proposed changes to the selection process through which governing body chairs are elected.

The RSE stresses that calling for a broader electorate is counter to good governance as it risks making the process of selection or election ‘political’, in the sense of being publicly contested.

This might undermine the chair’s role, said the RSE.

Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, President of the RSE, said: “Institutional independence and autonomy are the key pillars of a dynamic and successful Higher Education sector. They allow institutions to maintain the flexibility required to compete in an ever-evolving global environment.

"There must be a clear distinction between receiving public funding from various sources and being a public sector body. Treating Higher Education Institutions as the latter will lead to unintended consequences and affect their ability to compete. Governmental intervention of this scale is a retrograde step.”

The proposed Bill follows criticism by lecturers at the universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow that consultations on proposed cuts to courses and jobs were flawed. There have also been long-running concerns over the spiralling salaries of principals and the increasing autonomy of their management teams.