THE Scottish Government has endorsed moves by a leading university to introduce a three-year degree for home students.

Michael Russell, the Education Secretary, said the move by Dundee University would bring greater flexibility to Scottish higher education.

“I think that flexibility is absolutely fine. There is a place for five-year degrees, six-year degrees or even two-year degrees if people can do it in that way,” he told a conference on higher education organised by Holyrood Magazine.

“I believe the four-year degree is very useful and is also much more common worldwide, but I am not going to the barricades for one form of provision in Scotland.

“The strength of Scottish higher education is that there are many forms of provision and opportunities for people to do things in different ways.”

His comments come after The Herald revealed in September that Dundee had become the first institution in Scotland to develop a three-year honours degree, available to both Scottish students and those from the rest of the UK. Although some students already enter the second year of a four-year degree course if they study Advanced Highers, Dundee is the first to design a dedicated three-year course.

At the time, Professor Pete Downes, the university principal, said: “We fully appreciate the views of students and their families looking at the costs of attending university.

“By offering competitively priced three-year programmes, which of course mean a year’s less extra costs in living expenses, we think we have a very attractive offer.”