SCOTTISH universities are demanding legal certainty after a Yes vote in the independence referendum about whether they can continue to charge fees to students from the rest of the UK.
The Government insists that higher education institutions could continue to charge students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland fees of up to £9000, while at the same time offering free tuition to those from north of the Border.
But last month, the European Union's governing body said the plan had no precedent in the EU and could be regarded as "a covert form of discrimination on grounds of nationality".
A legal challenge to the policy is likely after a Yes vote, which commentators say could take years to resolve.
Universities are also concerned a legal challenge could be directed at them rather than Holyrood ministers.
A submission to Holyrood's education committee from sector body Universities Scotland calls for more detail before March 24, 2016, when the country would become independent following a Yes vote in September's poll.
It states: "If there is a vote for independence, we believe it is essential that, prior to independence day, the Scottish Government is able to give institutions robust, legally defensible certainty that a regime will be in place that enables a sustainable level of cross-border flow."
Commenting on the independence White Paper, the submission adds: "We look forward to seeing a full articulation of the Scottish Government's proposed objective justification as soon as this is developed."
A Government spokesman said: "The requirements of the EU allow for objective justification - that is clear evidence of exceptional circumstances. This is explicitly acknowledged on page 199 of Scotland's Future where it expressly identifies objective justification as the basis of our approach. This is a point also made in independent legal advice sought by Universities Scotland.
"The Scottish Government will ensure that clear arrangements, fully compliant with EU law, are in place."
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 hereComments are closed on this article