Free tuition fees in Scotland has avoided “betrayal” of students says Mike Russell

EDUCATION secretary Mike Russell has defended the Scottish Government’s policy on tuition fees while accusing the English system of “betraying a generation”.

In a letter to the education spokespeople of Scotland’s three other main political parties, Mr Russell said the decision to keep tuition free for Scots and other EU students had “achieved its objectives” and would see an extra 400 Scottish students go to university this year.

In the letter, which was sent to MSPs Liz Smith, Liam McArthur and Hugh Henry, Mr Russell said: “This year we have funded 400 more university places with the number of confirmed places on Higher results day up 3.1 per cent. Compare that with the situation in England where a generation of young people has been betrayed by the decision to shift the cost of tuition from the state to the student. The resulting collapse in confirmed places on A-level results day amounts to some 25,000 places.”

Under the new funding arrangements, Scots and EU students will remain exempt from fees, while those from elsewhere in the UK will pay up to £9,000 a year in tuition.

It means the number of places for Scots is capped, while there are no such limits on the numbers of English, Northern Irish and Welsh students who can be taken on by universities in Scotland.