'Bring back tuition fees for middle class students'

Published on Thursday 10 September 2009 22:11

TUITION fees should be reintroduced in Scotland to help to pay for less wealthy students to go to university, a former head of Universities Scotland said yesterday.

Lord Sutherland, a former principal of Edinburgh Universities, said those who could afford to pay for their education should do so, with a proportion of the cash being used to create bursaries for poorer students.

Upfront tuition fees were scrapped in Scotland by the first Scottish Executive nine years ago.

Read extra analysis by Liam Burns (president of NUS Scotland) here

Lord Sutherland's remarks were supported by Professor Duncan Rice, the principal of Aberdeen University.

But they were criticised by others, who claimed that the consensus in Scotland was against making Scots pay to attend university.

Lord Sutherland said more people from disadvantaged backgrounds in Scotland should be going to university.

He said: "People who are intellectually talented come from all corners of society, and they're the ones who should be going to university, and we should help.

"I think offering scholarships is very important, because the costs of going to university, fees and living costs, are high.

"One way of doing this would be to make sure that those who can afford it do pay tuition fees and ensure that a percentage of that goes to the scholarship for those who can't afford it."

Upfront tuition fees were introduced in 1998, at a flat rate of 1,000, across the UK by Tony Blair's government.

They were abolished in Scotland in 2000, after a review of university funding by Dr Andrew Cubie.

He has backed students making a financial contribution to their education, and in 2007 he called for an independent inquiry into higher education funding.

Later top-up fees were introduced south of the Border, allowing universities to charge up to about 3,225.

A review of that system is expected next year, but any change has been delayed until after the next general election, and raising the cap completely – which would let English institutions charge anything they liked – is not viewed as likely.

Last night, Professor Rice said: "A different fees regime might, if properly constructed, not only enable more income to come to universities, but at the same time would also help us to allow more people, who for financial reasons not academic reasons, can't consider university.

"There is no shortage of individuals within higher education in Scotland who think seriously about such issues for us to be able to construct such a scheme – but the political consensus is such that it's not on the agenda."

In 2008, the Higher Education Statistics Agency said Scotland had fewer university students from disadvantaged backgrounds than any other part of the UK.

A spokeswoman for Edinburgh University supported helping poorer students, but stopped short of backing the reintroduction of fees.

She said: "Lord Sutherland is correct to focus on the need for scholarships to support students from poor backgrounds who cannot afford fees and living costs."

One of the SNP's key election manifesto pledges in 2007 was not to bring back tuition fees.

A spokesman for the Scottish Government yesterday reiterated that stance.

He said: "We believe that access to education should be based on the ability to learn, not the ability to pay, and have made clear that we are opposed to tuition fees in Scotland.

"The Scottish Government has restored the principle of free education in Scotland, abolishing the graduate endowment fee benefiting up to 50,000 students and graduates."

Lecturers in the University and College Union (UCU) yesterday slammed calls for the reintroduction of fees and called for the Scottish Government to increase funding for universities.

Tony Axon, the UCU Scotland spokesman, said: "Lord Sutherland is out of touch with the consensus in Scotland, which is in opposition to fees. No political party or any current head of a university is calling for fees.

"His attempt to legitimise the reintroduction of fees by calling for increased bursaries for students from poorer backgrounds reveals that he has clearly not properly investigated the failing system south of the Border."

A spokesperson for the University of Edinburgh said: "It is vital that Scottish universities be adequately resourced to compete with leading UK and international institutions.

"The University of Edinburgh will continue to work hard to obtain the maximum possible benefit for students from the public funding it is allocated. Lord Sutherland is correct to focus on the need for scholarships to support students from poor backgrounds who cannot afford fees and living costs."

Claire Baker, Labour's higher education spokeswoman, called for an independent review of university funding in Scotland.

Margaret Smith, Liberal Democrat education spokeswoman, said: "The Scottish Government broke its promise to students over debt. They can't do the same to Scottish universities."

Ideas include graduate tax and flat-rate fees

DEBATE rages over how universities should be paid for in Scotland.

Here are some of the main options.

&#149 Flat-rate fees: Initially introduced in 1998, with every student in the UK paying 1,000 per year for their course. Following Dr Andrew Cubie's 2000 review of higher education funding, these were removed in Scotland but remained in England.

The advantages are that it is an equitable system which treats every student the same and would be simple to calculate.

The disadvantages are that this system has been repealed in Scotland and the SNP is opposed to fees in principle.

&#149 Variable fees: Introduced in England in 2005, in addition to the 1,000 annual fee, to "top up" the amount a university can charge to a maximum of about 3,000.

The idea was to introduce market forces to tuition fees. However, in reality, universities south of the Border have nearly all charged the maximum amount. It brings in about 6 per cent of university funding in England. The fear is that the introduction of market forces would see the most prestigious universities charge large fees, making them inaccessible to the less well-off.

&#149 Graduate endowment: This is the system the SNP has already scrapped. It brought in revenue by charging students a flat fee of about 2,000 payable on graduation. But the SNP said fewer than half of graduates have to pay it.

&#149 Graduate tax: Under this, every graduate would pay a higher rate of income tax, regardless of when they studied. If applied retrospectively to all graduates, the rate could be as low as p, which could generate 150 million a year. It is seen as the cheapest and most effective way to raise the necessary funds, but may be unpopular with voters.

PROFILE

STEWART Sutherland was principal and vice-chancellor of Edinburgh University from 1994-2002.

He went on to become president of the prestigious Royal Society of Edinburgh, which was founded in 1783, until 2005.

Charismatic Sutherland was widely viewed as having raised the organisation's profile and boosted its influence in the corridors of power.

In 2003 he became Lord Sutherland of Houndwood.

The Aberdeen-born academic authored an influential report on treatment in Scotland of the long-term care of the elderly in 2004.

In the same year Lord Sutherland was 39th in Scotland on Sunday's list of the most powerful people in Scotland.

During his career he has also been president of the Saltire Society and honorary president of Alzheimer Scotland/Action on Dementia, and a board member of the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

He has also sat on the government's Council for Science and Technology.