Call for more funded places to be available for Scottish ballet students

Currently, it is understood that there are only five funded places available a year at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, with other Scottish dancers forced to study south of the border, where they have to pay fees.

MSPs were told at a meeting of the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee in Holyrood that 75 per cent of places for high-level ballet students in Scotland were given to fee-paying, non-Scottish domiciled students.

Gary McKay, who launched a petition to call for action over the issue, said: “There is currently a cap on funded places at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, with a maximum of five places available to Scottish domiciled student ballet dancers. The majority of student ballet dancers are forced to study elsewhere, and fund themselves.”

He said young dancers who had received funded tuition at the Dance School of Scotland, which teaches pupils up to S6, were then largely unable to continue their higher education level studies close to home.

Mr McKay said: “Pupils of The Dance School of Scotland have been funded by the Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council for up to six years. During this time they have received the best tuition in ballet the country has to offer. However, at the end of this, when they then need to finish their training, there are limited opportunities for them to enter Conservatoire level training in Scotland.

“In 2022, only three Scots were accepted onto funded places in the whole country. Many others were accepted onto Conservatoire courses in London. However, without access to funding, they face a potential debt of £80,000 for three years training, substantially more than they would pay in Scotland.”

He added: “In my view, Scottish domiciled student ballet dancers are being discriminated against in Scotland in favour of overseas or English students who will pay higher fees to attend our only conservatoire.”

Evidence submitted to the committee by the Conservatoire said that Scottish students do not compete for places against other prospective students and are viewed and auditioned as an “entirely separate category”.

MSP Fergus Ewing pointed out that it is for universities to decide how many of their funded places are available for each course and said the Scottish Government does not direct how many funded places are available in most subjects.

Committee convenor, MSP Jackson Carlaw, moved for the petition to be closed on those grounds, but said the committee would write to the Conservatoire to raise the issue.

He said: “I do have a lot of sympathy with the petitioner’s cause. It seems to me the Royal Conservatoire should very carefully look at its process to ensure young people from Scotland are given this opportunity to pursue this specialist area of education.

“We will send a letter explaining that we did appreciate the depth of the response they gave and that allowed the committee to close the petition, but the unease is still there about the relatively low number of Scottish students.

“We hope they will continue to review and encourage the best possible talent to apply from within Scotland [in a way that] allows them to satisfy their entry criteria such that more Scottish students can be accommodated.”

He added: “I want to emphasise to them and to the committee that we want to see Scottish students getting the best opportunities they can out of national institutions here in Scotland.”