A pragmatic decision

As a government we fundamentally believe in the principle of free education, and that is why we have made it clear that we will never introduce tuition fees for Scottish undergraduate students.

In an ideal world, no student attending a Scottish university would pay fees. However, with the UK government introducing tuition fees south of the border of up to £9,000 per annum we must take action to ensure that we protect opportunities for students who live in Scotland to study at Scottish institutions, and we make no apologies for that.

If we were to take no action, Scotland would become the cheapest destination for higher education in the UK. Students who usually live in England could, for example, continue to pay fees of £1,820 per year to attend a Scottish university as opposed to up to five times that – £9,000 – in their home nation.

This would create an unparalleled level of competition for places at Scottish universities, squeezing out suitably qualified Scottish domiciled students.

However, by taking decisive action to introduce legislation to allow our universities to charge higher fees we are protecting places for Scottish students and the competitiveness and quality of our universities.

Universities have already made clear that they intend to offer a range of bursaries and scholarships to make sure Scottish higher education remains accessible to learners from diverse backgrounds across the UK.

Our decisive action will ensure young Scots are able to reap the rewards of our excellent universities and they won’t end up saddled with years of debt by doing so. This can only benefit our young people and in turn Scotland’s economy.