Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Fee refugees from England will deprive working class Scots of university place, time to reclassify England as 'foreign' for purposes of fee charging













Dear All

A while ago I floated the idea that students from England should be charged the same rate as foreign students.

This was to protect Scottish students and ensure opportunities were available so they could gain access to higher education.

Currently in England the Tory/Lib Dem coalition has dropped the bombshell that tuition fees are to be trebled to £9,000.

This means that unless something is done Scottish universities will be swamped with thousands of students from England escaping higher fees.

I have previously blogged that Scots aren’t in control of Scottish higher education, now it could turn out that Scots will also be frozen out of university places.

Fears over “fee refugees” pushing out Scottish students are a real threat and the only way to stop this is by charging English student as a minimum the same as English Universities so there is no advantage to them.

Alastair Sim, director of Universities Scotland said:

“We must continue to attract talented students from across the UK, but for the right reasons – not because they’re looking to escape the UK Government’s proposals.”

This statement doesn’t look to me that Alastair Sim of Universities Scotland is interested in protecting the rights of Scottish students to higher education.

In googling Sim, I see he was seconded to the human rights abusing Glasgow University for some time.

Corrupt foreigner Anton Muscatelli said at the time of Sim’s appointment as director Universities Scotland:

“At this crucial time for universities in Scotland we are delighted to be able to announce such a strong appointment. The contribution that universities make to life in Scotland has never been more important and I am very confident that Alastair is the right choice to lead Universities Scotland in both maximising and demonstrating that contribution. The whole sector looks forward to working with him.”

Principal Anton Muscatelli of human rights abusing Glasgow University isn’t noted for his ability to judge character given his involvement in covering up criminal fraud by several of his senior staff.

You can read that here.

How much value can you put on an endorsement from a man who knew his senior staff were involved in crime?

At present there is a lot of talk about ‘protecting’ Scottish students but given what has previously transpired I don’t think the rights of ordinary working class Scots will figure in the funding solution of universities.

I see this as smoke and mirrors to appease the Scottish public so they are deceived into believing that ordinary working class Scots from deprived areas can have the same access as others.

The Scottish Government needs to classify the rest of the UK as foreign for the purposes of fee charging.

That should be part of the “uniquely Scottish” solution.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

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