Top up fees under attack

RAYMOND Robertson, Scottish Office minister for education, has condemned top-up fees as deplorable, but has acknowledged that universities are entitled to introduce them.

In a House of Commons debate on Scottish higher education, Mr Robertson said the Government did not believe that the financial pressures were such that any Scottish institution needed to introduce top-up fees.

"We would deplore such a decision," he said. "I am delighted that the Committee of Scottish Higher Education Principals has publicly distanced itself from the concept of top-up fees."