Scots student numbers falling

Sir, At the SNP conference, John Swinney announced that students from all EU countries enrolling for the 2017-18 academic year would continue to have their tuition fees paid for the entire four years, even if Brexit happened in the interim. He would, however, continue to discriminate against students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland who will still have to pay fees.

This from a party whose leader accused the right wing of the Conservative Party of xenophobia earlier at the conference. Pots and kettles come to mind.

Students from the rest of the UK are very welcome as it is their fees, combined with those paid by foreign students from outside the EU, that part-fund the universities and enable free tuition for the others. That would be acceptable except that the increasing numbers of EU students are depriving Scottish students from less affluent areas, and possibly with lower grades, from attending university.

Last year there were 13,450 students from the EU at Scottish universities, costing the tax-payers here an estimated £75 million.

The percentage of Scottish students at universities in Scotland is decreasing as more students in the EU hear about free tuition.

At Glasgow, the number of Scots fell from 11,268 in 2011-12 to 10,656 2013-14 while in the same period the number of EU students rose by three per cent to 14.4 per cent (2,437). The situation is similar at Dundee and Edinburgh.

The bottom line is that the SNP cap on places isn’t working for a great many Scottish students and while I didn’t write, as William Crossan asserts, that those students from disadvantaged backgrounds would be encouraged into university by charging them £9,500 per year, I did state free tuition is unsustainable.

Perhaps some compromise should be considered with the introduction of fees around £3,000 per year and bursaries for those who cannot afford the fees. These could be funded from the £75 million currently supporting the education of EU students in Scottland.

Whatever narrowing of inequalities Mr Crossan found in the 2015 UCAS End of Cycle report, it didn’t apply to the attainment gap that has continued to widen under the SNP’s guardianship.

Brian Gee, Lefkara, Carradale East.