Academe supplies nine MSPs

Nine out of the 129 MSPs are from further and higher education.

Of the seven who won seats for Labour, six are women: Sarah Boyack, lecturer in town planning at Napier University; Rhona Brankin, lecturer in special educational needs, Northern College of Education, Dundee; Margaret Curran, lecturer in community education, Strathclyde University; Sylvia Jackson, lecturer in chemistry, Moray House Institute of Education, Edinburgh University; Marilyn Livingstone, head of the business school, Fife College; and Elaine Murray, OU lecturer in chemistry. Labour's Des McNulty was head of strategic planning, Glasgow Caledonian University.

The Lib Dems have Mike Rumble, head of business management, Aberdeen College, while the Conservatives have Mary Scanlon, lecturer in economics and management, Inverness College.