Students oppose Scots angle on tuition

Consultation on the Dearing inquiry ends in ten days' time. These are some of the latest submissions

The student associations of the ancient Scottish universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews, along with Dundee, have submitted a joint response to the Garrick report, the Scottish version of Dearing.

They oppose the recommendation that Scottish students who have had only one year's education after the statutory school-leaving age should not pay tuition fees for one of their higher education years. This discriminates against English students who want to study in Scotland, they say, since A levels do not allow early entry to higher education, and also discriminates against Scottish students who want to take the school Certificate of Sixth Year Studies.

The students say they oppose tuition fees in principle, but if these are imposed, students at Scottish universities should pay a maximum of three years, regardless of when they leave school.

The associations "absolutely oppose" the Garrick committee recommendation to remove the student-elected rectors' automatic convenership of court. They welcome Scottish education minister Brian Wilson's pledge last week not remove the right of their rectors to chair the university court.

The submission urges the Government to extend the full role of rector to other Scottish uni-versities, arguing that it leads to "impartial and inclusive governance".