4 The impact on Higher Education
44. Higher Education is an area of Government Responsibility
which is highly devolved. However, there are specific areas—student
fees and UK research collaboration—in which independence
would have a significant impact on both an independent Scotland
and the rest of the United Kingdom.
Access to Scottish higher education
45. In its White Paper, the Scottish Government stated
that:
Access to higher education will be based on ability,
not wealth; this Government will protect free tuition fees for
Scottish students and continue to provide appropriate support
for living costs. [47]
However, the Scottish Government also stated under
an independent Scotland, student from other parts of the United
Kingdom would have to pay tuition fees:
To ensure Scottish students remain able to study
at Scottish higher education institutions, this Government had
little option but to allow Scottish institutions to set their
own tuition fees for students from the rest of the UK at a rate
no higher than the maximum annual tuition fee rate charged to
such students by universities elsewhere in the UK.[48]
46. The Scottish Government believed that this would
be acceptable to the European Union because the policy was based
on the "unique and exceptional position of Scotland in relation
to other parts of the UK".[49]
47. Alastair Sim, Director of Universities Scotland,
told us that his organisation had received legal advice on this
policy proposal. That advice indicated that it might be possible
to construct a case to allow students who are normally resident
in Scotland to benefit from a particular fees or no-fees regime
and for EU citizens resident elsewhere to be treated differently
if an objective justification for that could be proved.[50]
However, he went on to acknowledge that the last two Governments
to try to make such an exemption—Austria and Belgium—were
both unsuccessful.[51]
48. Clarity on the legality of this policy proposal
is of significant importance because, according to Universities
Scotland, fees charged to students from the rest of the UK, net
of any bursary payments, yielded around £25m in additional
income in the academic year 2012-13 rising to £62m in 2014-15.[52]
Alastair Sim concluded by stating that this was "an extremely
important issue", and one where there needed to be "absolute
clarity" before a choice on independence could be made.[53]
49. According to press reports, Jan Figel, a former
European Education Commissioner, said that if Scotland left the
UK and became a member of the EU, students from England and Wales
should receive "the same treatment" as Scottish students—who
do not have to pay to study at universities north of the border.
When asked if an independent Scotland could charge fees from students
from England and Wales he said:
This would be illegal, this would be a breach
of the treaty. If Scotland is an EU member state, from that day
on it must apply the non-discriminatory rule which is linked to
the free movement of persons.[54]
50. This reading of the situation was reiterated
by David Willetts, the then Higher Education Minister:
The view seems pretty clear that if Scotland
were to be a separate state within the EU it would not be legal,
because there is a very clear legal framework within the EU that
you cannot discriminate against members of other member states.
I quote the spokesman for the European Commissioner for Education,
who said that, "Unequal treatment based on nationality […]
is regarded as discrimination, which is prohibited by Article
18 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU".[55]
51. When questioned on the Scottish Government's
view that it could prove an objective justification for such a
policy, the Minister said that he "cannot see any reason
why it would succeed".[56]
52. The current policy of charging tuition fees
for non-domiciled UK students provides a significant source of
income to Scottish universities. Despite the special circumstances
highlighted by the Scottish Government it is highly doubtful that
this policy will be compatible with EU Membership. The Scottish
Government must therefore set out how it will replace the financial
shortfall of not being able to levy tuition fees only on students
from the rest of the United Kingdom.
Research funding
53. The second area of interest was the capacity
of Scottish universities to continue to attract a sufficient level
of funding for Universities. In its White Paper, the Scottish
Government stated that it would:
Provide levels of public investment in university
research that will enable our researchers and universities to
remain internationally competitive.[57]
54. At present, public funding for university research
in Scotland and across the UK is delivered by a dual support system
comprising:
A block grant given by the funding council of
each country (funded from devolved budgets) and
Competitively awarded grants from the UK-wide
Research Councils (funded through the tax base).[58]
55. These two sources make up the majority of university
research income. In 2011-12 Scottish universities received a third
of their research income from the Scottish Funding Council and
won a further quarter in competitive funding from the Research
Councils and National Academies. The Scottish Government proposes
to retain these funding streams:
After independence this Government will seek
to continue the current arrangements for a common research area
and funding through established UK Research Councils, as we believe
this would benefit both Scotland and the rest of the UK in supporting
collaboration.[59]
It went on to state that as a post-independence country,
the Scottish Government would:
… negotiate with the Westminster Government
a fair funding formula for Scotland's contribution based on population
share but taking reasonable account of the fact that the amount
of research funding received by Scottish institutions from the
Research Councils may reflect higher or lower levels of funding.
Providing a direct contribution from the Scottish
Government budget in this way would create more transparency and
clearer accountability around our investment, enabling Scottish
interests to be better and more consistently reflected in the
identification of Research Council priorities.[60]
56. The Institute of Physics highlighted to us the
fact that Scotland, through UK research council funding, had an
excellent level of access to international science facilities
including the accelerators at CERN, the telescopes of the European
Southern Observatory (ESO) and the space missions of the European
Space Agency (ESA). It was concerned that access to these facilities
would have to be renegotiated in the event of independence, which
would include independent funding.[61]
57. The Royal Astronomical Society also highlighted
the need for clarity over:
… how the currently UK-wide research councils
would agree to divide assets and grant funding between an independent
Scotland and the other nations of the UK; and
The kind of cross-national agreements that would
need to be put in place to maintain the health of research activity.[62]
58. Universities Scotland in its evidence also noted
that in the event of a yes vote, the Scottish Government would
need to ensure the continued funding to retain the existing levels
of:
The quality, scale and impact of university research
and knowledge exchange; and
The maintenance and enhancement of universities'
scope for collaborative teaching and research at Scottish, UK
EU and international levels.[63]
59. The Higher Education Minister highlighted the
"excellent research institutions in Scotland" and the
fact that it attracted 13% of UK Research Council Funding against
a population of only 8%. He went on to question whether these
institutions could continue to attract that level of investment
as a separate country where collaboration would need to be underpinned
by a more cost-based assessment of financial input:
If Scotland were to separate, of course one would
hope for continuing research collaboration, but it would be between
two separate countries. The basis on which we do research collaboration
with France or Germany or the US, in general, is we pick up the
costs incurred in our country, and the French or the Germans pick
up the costs incurred in their countries. You have to come to
some kind of overarching project, but that is how you allocate
costs. That would be how it would have to work in this case. The
rest of the UK would not be using the rest of the UK's research
budget to pay for institutions in Scotland.[64]
60. It is unclear whether the common research
area is either practical or desirable in a post-independence United
Kingdom. Even if it is, such an arrangement will need detailed
negotiation to ensure that public funds from the UK are not being
disproportionately diverted to a separate country. In any case,
a complicated formula for the distribution of funds is very likely
to undermine the economies of scale currently enjoyed by universities
bidding within a single country.
47 The Scottish Government: Scotland's Future: Education, Skills and Development
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The Scottish Government: Scotland's Future: Education, Skills and Development Back
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The Scottish Government: Scotland's Future: Education, Skills and Development Back
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http://www.universities-scotland.ac.uk/uploads/ConstitutionPaper2012final.pdf Back
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http://www.scotsman.com/news/education/scottish-independence-ruk-tuition-fees-illegal-1-3271703
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Q183 Back
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The Scottish Government: Scotland's Future: Skills and Development
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The Scottish Government: Scotland's Future: A Research Funding Policy and Landscape Right for Scotland
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The Scottish Government: Scotland's Future: Skills and Development
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The Scottish Government: Scotland's Future: Skills and Development
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Ev61 Back
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Ev65 Back
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