Picture Improving in Scotland While Fees Hiked Down South
As tuition fees are hiked to £9,535 a year for students in England under the new Labour government, it is important to reflect on the stark contrast between the situation south of the border and here in Scotland – and address some common misconceptions.
Aside from the obvious protection of free tuition by the SNP Scottish Government for Scottish-domiciled students, there is the question of how many Scottish students are being accepted into Scottish universities and benefitting from this.
Places for Scottish Students
The Higher Education Statistics Agency’s latest data tells us there has been a pattern of overall growth in Scottish undergrads at Scottish universities, by 6% over the last five years to 2022/23. This most recent data is for 2022/23 which is time-lagged to nearly two years behind where we are now, with academic year 2024/25 having started in September.
Given that delay, it’s helpful to calibrate those figures with UCAS data on accepted Scottish applicants for 2024/25 entry. Its figures from SQA results day on 6 August show record breaking numbers of Scots domiciled students accepting places at Scottish universities, with a 0.5% increase of the previous post-pandemic high from 2021.
Overall, 31,970 Scottish students gained a place this year, compared to 30,050 in 2023 (+6%) and 28,750 in 2019 (+11%).
Scotland has also seen strong growth in international student numbers over the five-year period to 2022/23, the majority at post graduate level. But the HESA data doesn’t give us a full picture there either.
A year after HESA’s data set ends, Scotland’s universities experienced major fluctuations in demand from international students and a year of change to student immigration policy, which have thrown real volatility into the numbers. The biggest impact at sector level has hit at postgraduate taught level, which is a direct correlation to the end of the dependents study visa by the former UK Government.
So the picture is one of increasing numbers of Scottish students attending Scottish universities, but also one of Brexit impacting on the key fee-paying demographic of international students whose tuition supports the wider system in Scotland.
Impact of International Students
When it come to the balance of Scottish and international students in our universities, particularly at undergraduate level, it is really important to remember that the recruitment of international students has no bearing on the availability of places for Scots. For all that international student numbers have grown, Scots as a percentage of all students at undergraduate level has risen in the five-year period that HESA covers – from 70.45% in 2018/19 to 71.16%.
That should come as reassurance for anyone concerned about displacement and the notion of a cap pushing Scots students to English universities – with the percentage of Scottish students studying in England falling from 4.2% to 3.9% over the same period. The number of undergraduate places funded by the Scottish Government for Scottish-domiciled students are controlled by the Government and are only available for Scottish students, with universities fined for under- or over-recruiting beyond a small margin of error.
Universities Scotland is clear that “the fact that Scots don’t pay fees for undergraduate study and international students do, has absolutely no bearing on how many Scottish domiciled students are recruited… There is no displacement of Scottish students by international students who choose to study their undergraduate degree in Scotland“. They are also keen to point out that “the biggest single impact that international students have on Scottish students is beneficial, in that the financial support the cost of international tuition helps to cross-subsidise and plug the funding gap caused by the under-funding of every Scottish-domiciled place“.
The Debt Factor
Student Loans Company data also shows students in Scotland leave university with the lowest levels of debt in the UK, and an average of £31,790 less debt than students in England.
Figures released earlier this year show that a staggering 1.8 million people in England and Wales are in at least £50,000 of student debt.
In Scotland, we are also seeing record numbers of students from our most deprived areas in Scotland are going to university due to the SNP’s continued support for free tuition. 1,950 17 and 18-year-olds from the 20% most deprived postcodes (SIMD20) have been accepted in 2024/25, up from 1,790 (+9%) last year and 1,340 (+46%) in 2019.
Tory-Labour Threat to Free Tuition
Despite this success story, both of the main opposition parties in the Scottish Parliament have flirted with the idea of reintroduction of fees in Scotland.
Michael Marra MSP, Scottish Labour’s finance spokesperson, hinted earlier in the year that the party would examine models to reintroduce some form of charges.
And in his first major speech as Scottish Tory leader last week, Russell Findlay talked about ending free tuition as well.
It is increasingly clear that only the SNP can be trusted to protect free tuition for Scottish students
Background:
HESA data over 5 years at undergraduate level study:
| Domicile | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | 2021/22 | 2022/23 | Change over 5 years (5) | |
| Scotland | 118,750 | 120,370 | 127,120 | 130,240 | 125,985 | 6.09 | |
| Scotland as % of total | 70.45 | 70.16 | 70.52 | 71.07 | 71.16 | ||
UCAS data:
