Robert Gordon is first to set varying scale of tuition fees

The university said students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland will pay £5,000 a year for business, management and social science courses, while courses in subjects such as engineering, architecture and science will cost £6,750.

RGU became the latest Scottish university to set out its fees for RUK (rest of UK) students for next year. Other institutions, including Edinburgh and St Andrews, are set to charge £36,000 for a four-year degree.

Scottish students and those from the rest of the EU are exempt from the charges.

The announcement came as the Scottish Agricultural College said it would charge students £6,750 a year for their degrees, and around 30 students began a sit-in at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in protest at its decision to charge £9,000.

RGU said it had set its fees to reflect the fact that some courses cost more to deliver than others, particularly those involving laboratory or studio work.

While students on all business, management and social science courses will pay £5,000, those studying for degrees in art and design, architecture, computing, engineering, health and science will pay a higher rate of £6,750. A Master of Pharmacy will cost £8,500.

The university also said students carrying out a full-year paid placement as part of their degree would pay only half the fee for that year.

Professor Ferdinand von Prondzynski, the university’s principal and vice-chancellor, said: “By basing our charges on the cost of delivering our degrees, we are ensuring that we do not make profit from students who wish to study at RGU, while ensuring their study is not subsidised from revenues received to support Scottish and EU students. We believe that under the proposed structure, the university’s position is fair and equitable to all UK students.”

The university is also looking to establish a scheme for scholarships and bursaries eligible to all students, including RUK students, he said.

The announcement means the cost of a degree on the second band of courses will be the same as a degree at nearby Aberdeen University, which is to charge £9,000 a year to a maximum of £27,000, an approach also set to be adopted by Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. The Scottish Government is allowing universities north of the Border to charge fees of up to £9,000 after the UK government allowed English institutions to set charges at a higher rate.

Ryan Maclean, the president of RGU’s students’ association, said: “Robert Gordon University has not followed the trend of greed and joined the race to the top that has been displayed by other universities, and has set a fee level that minimises the risk of students being priced out of access to higher education.”

Alastair Sim, director of Universities Scotland, said: “We have said consistently we expected to see a range of fees for rest of UK students. We are confident this will be the case by the time every university has made its announcement and that the average annual fee will be lower than figures which have appeared in headlines recently.”