Free higher education must end, says Universities Scotland

Free higher education in Scotland is under threat after a report published by Universities Scotland has confirmed that tuition fees must be reviewed.

Universities Scotland, an organisation that represents the principles of Scotland’s universities, released its Towards a Scottish Solution report last week in the wake of the Browne Review's proposals to lift the cap on tuition fees in England and Wales.

Reactions from Scottish institutions have been mixed. The Scottish Government has reaffirmed its opposition to tuition fees, which were scrapped after the SNP came into power in 2000. This leaves Scottish universities vulnerable to a damaging funding gap compared to their English counterparts.

As previously reported by The Journal, Universities Scotland originally made it clear that securing sufficient public funding to maintain free education in Scotland should be the government’s priority. Edinburgh Napier University, Queen Margaret University and Heriot-Watt University all came out in support of this.

In its new report, however, Universities Scotland admits that a different solution needs to be found. The report outlines a potential model for Scottish funding based on graduate contribution.

It recommends a scaled contribution where graduates earning below a certain level do not pay into the scheme while graduates on higher income would contribute more. It also suggests that students from European Union should be included in the scheme.

The report stresses that any graduate contribution should be constructed in such a way that it does not discourage or exclude students from a full range of backgrounds studying at any university.

Alastair Sim, Director of Universities Scotland, warned that it is premature to be making decisions before the Scottish Government announces the level of public funding it will be investing in universities in its budget. However, he told The Journal: “We have laid out a series of principles we think should inform the development of a Scottish solution which rules out an upfront fee and ensures that any form of contribution does not discourage participation.

"We have called for the establishment of an expert group as soon as the green paper concludes to take this work forward. We have been clear that all stakeholders should be included in the work of this group and we are clear that this means students.”

Calls to shorten the Scottish undergraduate degree to three years were rejected by the report, which insists it would be regarded as ‘dumbing down’.