Smith: SNP’s attack on RUK students will not solve long term funding problems

The Education Secretary has confirmed that the black hole in higher education funding in Scotland will be plugged by charging students from the rest of the UK who want to come and study here.

Liz Smith MSP, Scottish Conservative Education Spokesperson, said:

"Mike Russell says he wants access to higher education to be based on the ability to learn, not on the ability to pay. It appears this does not apply to students from the rest of the UK.

"If we were a separate nation then this could well be illegal. It simply does not send the right message when we are targeting a certain group of students to carry the can for all others.

"If Mike Russell's plan is to stir up resentment in the rest of the UK against Scotland then he might well succeed. This measure is ill-thought out, vindictive and does nothing to address the long term funding pressures faced by the higher education sector in Scotland.

"The SNP has been guilty of misleading Scotland's students in the past and now they are branching out into attacking students from the rest of the UK. It is just not on."

Mike Russell also failed to answer these three questions

- Given that David Willetts has confirmed that the Higher Education reforms in England will mean a boost of 10% extra cash for that sector by 2014-15, how much additional cash will Higher Education institutions have in Scotland?

- In light of the changes announced in England, does he still believe the funding gap is £155million?

- Will the increased fees to be charged to RUK student be indexed to inflation?

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