FINES of more than £1.7 million imposed on Scottish universities for taking on too many students have sparked an angry reaction.

Four of the country’s higher education institutions were handed financial penalties by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) as a result of over-recruitment in 2010-11.

Aberdeen University suffered the largest fine for the second year running, at £1,048,000, as an equivalent of 800 extra full-time student places were allocated.

Stirling University was fined £142,000, while Heriot-Watt in Edinburgh and Abertay in Dundee faced penalties of £327,000 and £240,000 respectively.

The penalties, which at £1,757,000 are double the previous year’s total, have angered some as the penalised universities were previously encouraged to increase student intake numbers under a Scottish Government scheme.

Labour last night labelled the current system as “perverse” for punishing institutions for success in attracting more students.

Restrictions on Stem-related courses – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – were lifted in the three years prior to 2010-11 in a move designed to raise student numbers in areas pivotal to the Scottish economy.

However, last year, institutions were forced to either face fines or slash numbers after Michael Russell, the Education Secretary, decided to reimpose limits as part of wider cost-cutting measures.

Universities Scotland, the umbrella body that represents university principals across the country, said penalties resulted from institutions’ efforts to “offer opportunities to as many home students as possible”.

Heriot-Watt, the second-biggest offender with almost 300 extra full-time places filled, suggested that a re-introduction of the cap left the Edinburgh-based institution in the line of fire.

“The university was unable, in a single year, to reduce numbers sufficiently to comply fully with the capped level, and was thus liable to the clawback,” a spokeswoman said.

A Stirling University spokesman said: “Given the timing of the re-introduction of the targets, many offers had already been made to potential students.

“Demand was strong in 2010/11 and the proportion accepting offers from Stirling increased.”

Under SFC rules, universities are allowed to exceed their quota of publicly-funded places by between 7% and 10%, depending on the subject.

Labour’s higher education spokeswoman, Claire Baker, said the cap represented the wrong route for the Scottish economy.

She said: “We’ve just seen the highest ever figures for youth unemployment in Scotland and large numbers of youngsters going back to school for a sixth year because they cannot get college or university places.

“It is perverse to be fining universities for being successful in attracting students, especially those who are studying the Stem subjects, as there is a real shortage of those who want to concentrate on science and technology-related careers.”

Alastair Sim, director of Universities Scotland, said: “In 2010-11, the bulk of these penalties related to universities’ efforts to offer opportunities to as many home students as possible – an ambition the sector shares with the Scottish

Government. The on-going year-on-year increase in demand for undergraduate places at Scottish universities makes the job of matching offers and successful entrants to the number of available places increasingly challenging.”

Robin Parker, President of the National Union of Students Scotland, said the number of new entrants ought to be free of restrictions: “With the current economic situation, we need both universities and Government to come together to meet as much demand to study for a degree as possible. If universities can over-recruit and still maintain their quality of provision, then so be it.”

However, the Scottish Government said the current set-up was necessary as a “disincentive” to prevent student support costs spiraling.

Mr Russell said: “For every extra student place granted that goes above what we have funded, the public purse is burdened with finding student support that has not been budgeted for.”

The SFC stressed universities are informed of penalties they could incur in advance and there was a responsibility to balance the number of offers made with the number of funded student places provided.