I HATE to say it, but I told you so.
Three months ago this column predicted the future. I warned that August would witness a media frenzy warning that Scottish students were being driven out of university by rivals from the rest of the UK (rUK). I said the reason given would be the SNP's decision to "cap" the number of Scots who could go to university in order to prop up its expensive policy of giving them free tuition. And I also indicated certain newspapers would contrast this with universities' willingness to recruit fee-paying students from England through the clearing system at the very same time Scots were being turned away.
This week, as pupils across Scotland received their Higher exam results and those who missed out on their grades joined the scramble for the last remaining places, all that came true. Sections of the right-wing press accused Scottish universities of operating "two-tier" clearing systems "thanks to Scottish Government policies that limit the number of places they can offer to Scots". The headline in another newspaper railed: "Scots losing out on places at university", with the subsequent article suggesting applicants were being "frozen out" of hundreds of courses that were open to rUK students. Even STV news got in on the act, quoting a Glasgow parent who argued his daughter was being treated "like a second-class citizen in her own country" because she could not find a place at university to study medicine. In all of these cases, what was left unsaid was just as important as what was highlighted.
In the case of the Glasgow parent, STV failed to mention that his daughter had actually applied to do medicine at a number of Scottish universities last year, but had not been accepted after sitting the UK Clinical Aptitude Test, which judges suitability to be a doctor rather than looking at academic achievements. While undoubtedly an outstanding performer at Higher, that meant she was in the unusual position of seeking a place for highly competitive courses related to medicine at the last minute.
What the newspapers failed to tell you was that Scottish students are not competing for places with those from the rest of the UK at all. Because students from Scotland have their fees paid for them, while rUK applicants pay fees of up to £9000, they are recruited in two entirely separate processes. By the time students from England are trying to get a place at university through clearing the vast majority of Scots have already got in.
The facts speak for themselves. Last year, when the same system was in operation, 29,362 Scots went to university here compared to 4,044 from England, 900 from Northern Ireland and 115 from Wales and three times as many Scots got a place through clearing. Scots also don't pay tuition fees. Whisper it softly, but perhaps the "two-tier" system actually favours the Scots?
Sadly, this bogus attempt to pit Scottish students against those from England distracts from the real issue. At a time when more Scots want to go to university and more are getting the required grades, should we consider an expansion of higher education and, if so, can that continue to be funded from the public purse?
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