I support free tuition, but the funding model for Scottish universities is broken

Cuts and deficits underline need for serious assessment of revised fiscal framework

The extent of the crisis facing Scotland’s universities was laid bare this week after Dundee University announced it was to cut the equivalent of a fifth of its workforce, decimating the institution’s standing and exerting a bitter blow to Tayside’s economy. The extent of the cuts has sparked calls for the Scottish Government to step in, but the university’s disastrous fiscal standing is a symptom of a deeper malaise for which there are no temporary fixes.

As has been forensically reported by Calum Ross, The Scotsman’s education correspondent, at least seven Scottish higher education institutions reported operational deficits in 2023/24, up from four in the previous year. Even big beasts among the Russell Group are in dire straits, with the University of Edinburgh seeking to make £140m in cuts.

There is a confluence of factors at play, from inflationary pressures and challenges recruiting overseas students, to an increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions. Fundamentally, however, the key issue is the way universities are funded. For years, the system has operated on the basis that the continued growth in international students would cross-subsidise increasing government underfunding of teaching and research.

That methodology is no longer working and the quality of the education provided by Scotland’s universities is suffering, with schools and courses that are deemed to fall short of required profit margins finding themselves on the chopping block. A quarter century on from the landmark Cubie report, it is time for a considered assessment of what a revised funding model will look like, and what that means for Scotland’s flagship free tuition offering.

Dundee University plans to cut 632 jobs, about 20 per cent of its workforce, as it struggles to deal with a £35 million deficit. Picture: Lisa Ferguson | National World

Awkward truths about free tuition

As far as the SNP is concerned, that cornerstone policy remains untouchable, rooted in the principle that education should be based on the ability to learn, not the ability to pay. As the first member of my family to attend university, that is a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with. But if the government remains steadfast, it must also renew its commitment to funding that policy.

There are other awkward truths around free tuition that must be reckoned with, not least around whether it is doing enough to help close the poverty-related attainment gap. Statistics from the Students Awards Agency for Scotland show that it supported 21,155 full-time students from the most deprived areas of Scotland in 2023/24, down from 21,245 the previous year, 22,870 in 2021/22, and 23,845 in 2020/21.

It also remains the case that the sums expended disproportionately benefit better-off families. In 2023/24, £74.8m went on fees covering students from the least deprived areas, whereas just £35.8m went to the most deprived.

Is that a fair and prudent use of public money? It is a conversation that is surely more relevant than ever. Sadly, like so many other issues in Scottish politics, the debate is a binary affair, pitting free tuition against the likes of a graduate tax, or a return to endowments. That leaves scant room to consider other steps, such as a reconfiguration of the funding given to institutions depending on their reserves, the length of degrees, or the possibility of a means-tested contribution from some students.

The very idea may be anathema to many, but as the dismal events in Dundee starkly demonstrate, the status quo cannot hold.