European Union students (EU) studying or starting a course this year will receive free tuition in Scotland for the duration of their studies despite the UK's Brexit vote, the Scottish Government has confirmed.
EU regulations require member states to offer the same benefits to EU citizens as their own citizens, compelling the Scottish Government to provide fee-free education to EU students alongside Scottish students.
However, the Scottish Government may not be under the same constraints when the UK leaves the EU.
Scottish Education Secretary John Swinney has issued a joint statement with Universities Scotland to reassure existing EU students they will continue to benefit from free tuition.
It states: "We welcome the contribution EU students make to our society, culture and economy.
"EU students add to the diversity of our communities, enrich the learning experience and support local businesses and jobs.
"We want to reassure EU students that there has been no change in current funding arrangements and that eligible EU students already studying in Scotland or commencing their studies in the coming months will continue to benefit from free tuition and, for those who meet the residency requirement, associated living cost support."
The Scottish Government and universities have also stressed they want Scottish students to continue to have the ability to study abroad.
The statement continues: "The UK Government has indicated that UK students studying in the EU, and those looking to start in the next academic year, will continue to be subject to current arrangements.
"We believe that the outcome of the EU referendum makes it even more important that the UK Government supports the reintroduction of a post-study work visa in Scotland to enable our universities to continue to attract and retain talent from across the world."
Mr Swinney said: "Today's statement sends a clear message that EU students are welcome in Scotland and their contribution is valued.
"The UK Government must also clarify as soon as possible the immigration status of EU nationals who will be living, working and studying in Scotland when the UK formally leaves the EU."
Professor Sir Pete Downes, convener of Universities Scotland and principal of the University of Dundee, said: "This statement provides much-needed reassurance to our highly-valued community of EU students and those due to start study with us in the next few months.
"We will keep working to secure clarification and guidance for those who are considering Scotland as destination for study for entry from 2017/18."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel