
HUMZA Yousaf has rejected requires a rethink on free tuition for Scottish college students.
The pinnacle of the College of Edinburgh, Sir Peter Mathieson, has claimed that asking wealthier households to pay charges needs to be “thought of calmly”.

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He warned that Scotland will lose cash and expertise beneath the present system, which means Scottish college students is not going to must pay tuition charges.
Nevertheless, Mr Yousaf mentioned: “I’m completely dedicated to making sure that we’ve got free schooling. College needs to be based mostly on capacity to study, not capacity to pay.”
The introduction of free tuition charges was a flagship dedication of the SNPwith a legislation abolishing the Graduate Basis launched shortly after the occasion got here to energy in 2007 and handed by Holyrood in early 2008.
The coverage was championed by the previous First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and her predecessor


Alex Salmond, who had his declare that “the rocks will soften with the solar earlier than I permit tuition charges to be imposed on Scottish college students” inscribed on a stone as a memorial when he left workplace.
The First Minister’s intervention got here after Sir Matheison mentioned the present system, during which Scottish college students pay no tuition charges when finding out at establishments north of the border, is inflicting “expertise and cash to depart Scotland”.
The assume tank Reform Scotland final 12 months referred to as on the Scottish Authorities to desert its long-standing coverage, as an alternative proposing that graduates “ought to pay the federal government a part of their tuition again in the event that they earn sufficient cash to take action”.
Sir Peter mentioned the transfer may doubtlessly permit for an enchancment in authorities funding for universities – or a rise within the cap on the variety of Scottish college students.
registered mail The HeraldHe added: “Rich households in Scotland can at present pay for his or her offspring to go to college in England or overseas, however not in Scotland, so expertise and cash are leaving Scotland.
“Altering this may be a political choice past my management, however it deserves quiet consideration.”
Sir Peter mentioned the funding his college receives from the Scottish Authorities to cowl Scottish college students’ charges is “inadequate to pay the total price of their schooling”.
And he refuted solutions that the college had rejected Scottish candidates in favor of candidates from the remainder of the UK or abroad, who might be charged extra for his or her research.