Lesson to learn

I was interested to note in Lord Sewel’s letter that on independence (29 August) the Scottish Government would be required to treat students from the rest of the UK in exactly the same way as it currently does with students from the European Union.

EU law states that all EU nationals are entitled to use a host country’s education system on the same terms as its own nationals. In Ireland, students are charged a fee of €2,000 and the state pays this fee if the personal/family income is less than about €50,000. But that is not the only criteria. All students are expected to pay the fee if they cannot prove residency in Ireland for three of the past five years.

This means that a fee predominantly levied against EU students is not based on nationality, but on residence, and this is a model the Scottish Government is examining, without the need for means testing.

Alex Orr

Leamington Terrace

Edinburgh