Funding council hits universities with fines for over recruiting

Edinburgh Napier University has been penalised by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) for accepting too many students last year. 

The university received a £338,000 fine, equal to the tuition fees paid by government on behalf of the 194 students the university over-recruited.

An Edinburgh Napier spokesperson said: “We have been aware since last autumn that we had over-recruited and that there would be consequences. We have been working on that assumption and were prepared for the confirmation of the penalty.”

The spokesperson added that the university sees this as an indication of their popularity, rather than a setback.

The fine, which will be deducted from this years SFC grant, is the second largest fine received by the university in its history.

Napier received a grant claw back of £886,000 in 2006-7 for under-recruiting students.

The SFC have fined Scottish universities nearly £1 million for over-recruitment, with Aberdeen University picking up the largest fine of nearly £500,000.

Napier Student's Association president Kasia Bylinska said the fines could have negative effects on the quality of education.

“I will do my best to ensure that the student experience and quality of teaching will not suffer as a results of the fines and I am sure that this will be the university's agenda too.

“The economic downturn resulted in high unemployment and many people entering HE who wouldn't otherwise do so or having to retrain. I believe that taking into the account the circumstances, the SFC should have reconsidered imposing any fines at any university.

“I understand that recruitment quotas serve a purpose of ensuring provision of high quality education to all students but isn't fining a university serving an exact opposite purpose? Maybe it's time the SFC looks into better, more progressive ways of ensuring that the universities do not over recruit.”

Queen Margaret University and Robert Gordon University also received fines of £42,000 and £62,000 respectively. Neither of the universities' spokespeople were available for comment.

Despite a call for more places to be opened up to accommodate the rise in applicants due to the recession, the number of student places has been maintained at the same levels as 2009-10.

Liam Burns, president of the National Union of Students Scotland, said that this decision will have adverse effects on those hoping to gain a place at universities across Scotland.

“However, for those that are already at university, this announcement represents protection from course cuts and department cuts”, Mr Burns said.

The fines come shortly after the SFC announced a real-term cut in funding for the next academic year.

Although Scotland's universities will receive a £15.3 million increase in their budget from last year, inflation rates effectively ensure a real-term cut of 0.6 percent.

In total the SFC will distribute £1.12 billion in funding, split into the General Fund and the Horizon Fund.

The General Fund is used to support teaching, research and the maintenance of buildings whilst the Horizon Fund is allocated for strategic initiatives and the pooling of research.