THE Scottish Government is to press ahead with its policy on introducing higher fees for students from the rest of the UK, despite opposition.
Michael Russell, the Education Secretary, yesterday laid regulations before the Scottish Parliament to allow universities to set fees of up to £9000 for students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Mr Russell said: “I have not taken this decision lightly. However, in the light of the UK Government decision to increase tuition fees to £9000 south of the Border, we simply had no choice.
“This action will protect opportunities for our students, and protect our world-leading universities’ reputation and competitiveness. We received a number of responses to our consultation indicating broad agreement with our approach, and I believe it is the only decision that is right for students who live in Scotland.”
However, NUS Scotland, which represents students, expressed disappointment with the announcement.
Robin Parker, president of NUS Scotland, said: “The Scottish Government has shown Westminster the way and kept education free for Scottish students, but there’s no excuse for allowing students from the rest of the UK to have to be charged the most expensive degrees in the UK, with no arrangements at all to protect access for poorer students. It’s simply not good enough to rely on the market to keep institutions in check when we’ve seen £36,000 degrees at Edinburgh and St Andrews.
“There have been no meaningful changes to these proposals since they were published in June and you must wonder what’s been the point of the consultation process.”
The official Scottish Government response to the recent consultation on fees suggests universities which benefit most from the new fees could have some of the money clawed back.
Most students from the rest of the UK go to either Edinburgh, St Andrews or Glasgow, which are the institutions most likely to benefit. The Scottish Government response states that “if, under the current funding arrangements, some institutions appear to be benefitting disproportionately from the new regime” new guidance would be issued to the Scottish Funding Council.
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