About us

We invest £1.9 billion annually of public money in tertiary learning and teaching, skills and apprenticeships, student support and participation, research innovation and knowledge exchange.

Our purpose is to sustain a world-leading system of tertiary education, research and innovation that enables students to flourish, changes lives for the better and supports social, economic and environmental wellbeing and prosperity.

Directly accountable to Scottish Government Ministers and the Scottish Parliament, we are a non-departmental public body, established by the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2005. We work across many government portfolios and we are sponsored by the Lifelong Learning Directorate. We hold colleges, universities and other funded bodies to account for their delivery of required outcomes. We are also the statistical authority for colleges, and work closely with the UK-wide Higher Education Statistical Authority (HESA) to provide data and statistics for government, decision-makers, and the wider public.

The tertiary education sector is undergoing significant change, and SFC plays a crucial role in shaping and delivering the government’s reform ambitions, building trusted relationships with government, funded bodies and a range of partners to secure a more sustainable system for the future.