'One year to save our universities'

Mr Russell (pictured) said he agreed with Glasgow University principal Anton Muscatelli who, earlier this month, said a new system of funding had to be in place within a year or universities would suffer.

The debate on university funding yesterday was prompted by the Conservative Party, which favours a graduate contribution system proposed by Professor Muscatelli,

Prof Muscatelli said a graduate contribution was necessary to tackle the cash crisis in Scottish universities within a year.

Mr Russell said: "We will publish our green paper later in the year, and I agree with Anton Muscatelli on the timescale for finding a solution.

"My intention is to bring together many of the ideas which have featured in these discussions into the green paper.

"This paper will present a menu of options for consultation. And then, in the early months of next year, I want there to be a wide-ranging debate across Scotland on what the component parts of that solution should be.

However, he added the stark caveat that, "in considering these options, we must remember that there is no 'silver bullet' - there will be many parts of the eventual Scottish solution".

A Scottish Government spokeswoman confirmed the timescale, but said actual implementation could take some time after that.

She said there would be "vigorous consultation" next year, with a view to reaching a solution by the second half of 2011.

With Scottish parliamentary elections due in May next year, there is no guarantee the SNP would be in power to deliver on the results of that consultation.

Liz Smith, Conservative schools spokeswoman, said: "Two things need to happen, and they must happen now, not at some undefined time in the future.

"Firstly, students must be asked to make a graduate contribution, and, secondly, there must be reform of the structure of the university system.

"One will not work properly without the other."She described the current situation in Scotland as "highly regressive" and called for a deferrable graduate payment dependent on income, which could be paid through income tax.

However, Liberal Democrat MSP Mike Rumbles was critical of principals on salaries of up to 250,000 demanding money from debt-laden students or graduates.

He said: "How dare they? I would have more sympathy with university principals if they didn't award themselves such huge salaries." All political parties in Scotland have ruled out a return to up-front tuition fees north of the Border.

However, the president of the National Union of Students Scotland, Liam Burns, condemned the Conservative proposal as simply a "top-up fee".

Mr Burns said it would saddle Scottish students with tens of thousands of pounds of tuition fees and create a two-tier system where only the rich could afford expensive courses, such as medical degrees.

He said: "The Conservatives can call their proposal what they like, but in reality it's a top-up fee system - just like in the rest of the UK.

"Tuition fees have been entirely discredited and have been rejected by the Scottish Parliament today, and by the Scottish people time and time again," Mr Burns went on.

"The Conservatives need to know that trying to sneak top-up fees in by calling them something else is simply not going to work.

"It's very frustrating that the Conservatives have no suggestions for dealing with the real crisis our students face - student hardship."

'One year to save our universities' - Michael Russell