Scots are frozen out by foreigners in race for university places
SCOTS pupils are being locked out of university courses that are still open to foreign students who pay thousands of pounds in fees.
Youngsters who failed to get the Higher grades they needed are turning in desperation to the ‘clearing’ process, but finding that doors have already been closed.
The ‘two-tier’ process means only around 250 courses north of the Border are still available for Scottish undergraduate applicants, yet more than 2,500 remain on offer to students from outside the EU.
That is because SNP ministers have refused to introduce tuition fees for Scottish and EU youngsters, excluding those from the rest of the UK, which places a strict ‘cap’ on how many places the public purse can afford.
The Scottish Government pays around £ 2,000- a- year f or each student from its taxpayer-funded budget. The places are ring-fenced for Scots, but university bosses can be threatened with fines if they go greatly above their quota.
In contrast, universities are free to charge foreigners more than £10,000 a year – raising fears they are being used as ‘ cash cows’ to make up funding shortfalls. There is no centrally-imposed limit on the number of entries a university can accept from abroad.
The precise number of Scots youngsters who will enter the clearing process is unknown, but 14,190 were classed as ‘free to be placed in clearing’ following the publication of exam results earlier this week. Last year, only 1,330 Scottish students found a place through clearing, and 1,130 of those went to universities north of the Border.
For those who got the exam results they needed, almost 25,000 have been awarded university or college places, up by 3 per cent compared with last year’s exam results day.
But critics last night claimed the ‘two-tier’ system is unfair on Scots pupils. Tory young people spokesman Liz Smith MSP said: ‘This is indicative of the discriminatory approach of the Scottish Government’s higher education policies.
‘There is increasing pressure on universities to take more students from fee-paying categories and, by definition, that can mean fewer Scottish students have the same opportunities to gain places in clearing.’
The clearing process for Scots students is already closed at some of the country’s top universities. Edinburgh has no undergraduate courses available for those living in Scotland, but around 450 for non-EU citizens.
At Glasgow, there were f i ve courses available to Scots at undergraduate level last night, but more than 500 open to foreigners.
Aberdeen has no availability for Scots school leavers in the clearing process, compared to more than 400 courses f or non- EU applicants.
Some universities have more courses open for English-based students, who pay fees of up to £9,000 a year, although A-Level exam results have not been announced yet and the recruitment process from south of the Border is not under way.
When it does start next week, university admissions departments are expected to be inundated by calls from sixth formers who did not get their grades.
A spokesman for Universities Scotland said: ‘Some universities may have additional capacity to recruit i nternational students through clearing. However, Scotland’s universities continue to offer the maximum number of Scottish Government funded places with the funding available through the Scottish Funding Council.’
A spokesman for the University of Edinburgh said: ‘There are no restrictions on the number of non-EU students that can enter the university and because of this, the majority of our programmes remain open for applications from non-EU applicants.’
A Scottish Government spokesman last night claimed: ‘The numbers of international students and those from the rest of the UK recruited by Scottish universities has no bearing at all on the number of free funded places available to Scottish domiciled students.
‘Our investment of over £1billion in our universities this year includes an increase in the number of funded places available to Scots-domiciled students.’