UNIVERSITY chiefs have come under fire after urging tutors to leak private information about students who have confided in them over money or debt problems.

Lecturers at Edinburgh University were told to report details about the finances of hundreds of students who had fallen behind in tuition fees to officials.

A list of around 250 students who could be identified by ‘customer codes’, courses and dates of birth was distributed to tutors.

But staff at the university's Hunter Building, who received the demand on Thursday, raised concerns that the move would undermine the pastoral relationship between tutor and student as well as breaching data protection laws.

In a series of emails from senior management, seen by The Herald, academic staff were told: “We have been asked to gather information on the students listed in the attached document. Could you please search your tutee lists and identify if any of the listed students have particular money/debt issues that we should be aware of. We have been given a very short turnaround time on this and it would be most helpful if you could return your comments by Tuesday February 2.

“To clarify, the request has come from the fees and finance office. We have received a list of students showing as owing monies to the university. "We have been required to clarify whether we know of any reason why these fees could not have been paid. This will prevent a reminder notice being issued.”

Students who appeared on the controversial list were enrolled in sport science, community education, education studies, physical education, sport and recreation management, and sports science medicine.

The plan has since been scrapped following a staff outcry.

The Information Commissioner said any potential breach of data protection legislation would be investigated.

However, the university claims no laws have been broken but admitting the instruction was "not normally how sensitive information is shared among staff".

One academic source said the demand was a further example of university staff having "surveillance responsibilities" foisted upon them.

They said: "The finance people have been chasing people for debt, they want data and the students on the list they gave were easily identifiable by the codes, dates of birth and programmes they are studying.

"We are supposed to give academic advice and our pastoral role involves directing students towards help or counselling if their financial situation was impacting on their studies.

"This was asking us to report details of confidential discussions we have with students so they could be pursued for debt. This breaches all sorts of data protection I suspect."One university source said: "The finance people have been chasing people for debt, they want data and the students on the list they gave were easily identifiable by the codes, dates of birth and programmes they are studying.

Student leaders have reacted angrily to the news insisting that they needed "to be confident they can approach their personal tutors for impartial support and advice".

The union representing academic staff said it was aware of the dispute and will discuss the issue with university chiefs later this week.

Imogen Wilson, Edinburgh University Student Association vice president, said: "There’s clearly been a breakdown in communication and the university must make sure this never happens again.

"Students need to be confident they can approach their personal tutors for impartial support and advice, and they deserve to be able to continue their studies without being harassed about tuition fees."

An Edinburgh University spokesman said: “The email was sent with the intention of finding out how students could be better supported.

"There has been no breach of data protection law as no names were included and it was sent confidentially to specific members of staff in the School of Education. However, this is not normally how sensitive information is shared among staff and more robust guidelines are being put in place.”