Scottish Tories indicate support for fees

The Scottish Conservatives have indicated support for a £9,000 per annum fee cap for undergraduates studying north of the border, mirroring proposals set out for England and Wales.

Tory MSP Liz Smith, party spokesperson for education, appeared to agree with her Westminster counterparts on Good Morning Scotland about a fee increase for Scottish students, who currently pay nothing for undergraduate education.

When asked about the issue, Ms Smith said the cap should be “something around the £9,000 mark”.

In response to the interview, the Scottish Nationalist Party condemned the Scottish Tories, with SNP MSP and Education Committee member Alasdair Allan saying: “The Scottish Tories are completely out of touch with Scotland’s students and Scottish education.

“Tuition fees have no place in the Scottish system. Education must be based on ability to learn and the impact fees will have in discouraging talented students is unacceptable. The SNP disagrees with the Tory plans in England and we will not see those plans spread to Scotland.”

The Labour Party also criticised the Tories, saying that the statement was an indication of how the UK's coalition government had been myopic with introducing the new fee cap legislation.

Anne McKechin, Westminster spokesperson for Scotland, said raising the cap on fees to the best English universities to £9,000 would send a flood of English students north to benefit from “cheaper” higher education in Scotland.

In response to Ms Smith's indication of a support for fee rises in Scotland, Liam Burns, President of NUS Scotland, told The Journal why fee caps north of the border would be a step in the wrong direction: “I don’t know what planet the Scottish Conservatives are on. I suppose they’re being honest, but incredibly misguided. Fees are discredited and have been rejected by every other party in the Scottish Parliament.

“Putting a price tag on education only serves to put off the poorest students from going to university or even from ever applying. That would be a tragedy for our society and bring a wrecking ball to our economy. At least students now know what they’re dealing with when it comes to the Scottish Conservatives."

Consolidating the student animosity, Liz Rawlings, President of Edinburgh University Students' Association, spoke to The Journal about the issue, calling Ms Smith's indication "disappointing".

In addition, Ms Rawlings called on the Scottish Government to "reject tuition fees" and "introduce a progressive funding model", citing tuition fees as being "outdated, elitist and unfair".

In a comment piece for The Journal in issue 36 earlier in the year, titled: 'We should reconsider how to give everybody the same right to education', Ms Smith wrote that the "status quo" on fees for Scottish institutions is "no longer viable".

Ms Smith continued: "Competing university sectors are continually improving and student fees have already given English universities an extra revenue source that Scottish universities lack.

"Scotland simply cannot afford to stand still so, in the spirit of Mercer’s words, let me be more positive and offer a constructive, Conservative view of what must be addressed."