Change charges

It has always puzzled me that the tuition fee system in England allows people to do degrees so worthless that you can get a job after which pays so little for so long that the debt is cancelled. If the review of the system announced by Theresa May eliminates these degrees in favour of vocational educathe tion to fill the likely post-brexit skills gap and frees up funds to give bright students from poor background the opportunities to do economically useful degrees, then this would make a considerable improvement to the value of tertiary education in England.

But what about Scotland? Will Sturgeon and Swinney admit that the “free” tuition fees system is unaffordable and requires that the number of places be capped, so students from poorer backgrounds miss out? Will they grasp the opportunity Brexit gives to charge EU students to attend our great educational institutions or continue to pay for the education the children of wealthy Europeans? Are the SNP ready to melt some rocks or do we have to wait until they are voted out before the tuition fee system gets the revamp it desperately needs?

(DR) SJ CLARK Easter Road, Edinburgh