English student in legal fight over fees

Published on Sunday 9 January 2005 00:48

SCOTTISH universities are facing a legal test case to prevent them discriminating against English students by charging them higher fees than those paid by their counterparts north of the Border.

Emma Block, 22, an English student at Glasgow University, is to claim that the extra fees are a breach of her human rights and discriminatory under race relations legislation.

One of Britain’s top education lawyers is preparing the case, the first legal challenge to the Scottish parliament’s powers to impose higher charges on undergraduates from other parts of the UK.

Students who have lived in Scotland for more than three years, and those from other countries in the European Union, pay 2,000 when they have completed their degree.

In contrast, English students have to pay 1,250 a year, a total of 5,000 for a four-year course.

That difference will increase when universities in England and Northern Ireland are allowed to charge fees of up to 3,000 a year from 2006.

While Scotland will retain its 2,000 charge for Scottish and EU students, those from elsewhere in the UK will be forced to pay 5,700. Medical students face a bill of 15,000.

The charges are being imposed because the Scottish Executive claims it will otherwise attract ‘fee refugees’ from south of the Border.

Block, a third-year philosophy undergraduate, said it was a clear case of discrimination. "I have to pay more than undergraduates from France and Germany. If I was a citizen from another country in the European Union, I couldn’t be discriminated against in this way," she said.

There are an estimated 20,000 English students at Scottish universities. At Edinburgh and St Andrews, roughly a third of the undergraduates are from England.