Scotland lobbies EU on non-UK student fees

Currently, European law obliges the Scottish Government to pay the fees of students from non-UK EU countries at a cost to the taxpayer of more than 75 million a year.

As England is not a separate country, its students must pay fees in Scotland.

Mr Russell met representatives of EU commissioner Androulla Vassiliou yesterday to discuss a solution to the issue after costs surged from 20m in 2000-1 when there were half as many EU students coming to Scotland.

He said: "Part of the attraction of Scottish universities is their cosmopolitan nature and students from Europe and beyond have made a significant contribution to university life around the country.

"However, with the cost of EU students to the Scottish taxpayer having risen almost fourfold since the start of the last decade, we cannot allow our universities to become a cheap option for students who have to pay to study in their home countries."

He added: "I am very pleased to have been able to raise the issue with representatives of commissioner Vassiliou. I felt it was a productive session.

"They now understand the difficulties Scotland faces in paying for EU students and will report back to the commissioner.

"I don't expect a swift solution to the problem to be found, but I hope that today's meeting will be the first step on the road towards such an outcome."

Mr Russell added: "In principle, we are not against EU students paying nothing but we have to bear in mind what we can afford."

He said 16,000 foreign students took advantage of free Scottish university education last year - a 94 per cent rise compared with a decade ago.