Letter: First principles

I was interested to read Frances Cairncross's essay (21 June) and I thought I should put Universities Scotland's position on record.

We welcome debate on how to sustain and promote universities' contribution to Scotland's success. However, one of the "givens" of this debate in the new political environment is the Scottish Government's policy not to introduce any form of payment by Scots for full-time undergraduate students at Scottish universities.

We recognise that for the government this is a position of principle which runs much deeper than the terminology issues which Ms Cairncross discusses.

We also recognise the strong electoral mandate the government has for this position. The task now is for the Scottish Government to deliver on its firm commitments to an internationally competitive and excellent university sector and to meeting the funding gap facing Scottish universities in full.

Scottish universities will work hard at contributing to a confident, ambitious, inclusive Scotland.

Alastair Sim

Universities Scotland

Hanover Street

Edinburgh