St Andrews University has taken an astonishing swipe at the UK Government after it emerged limits are to be imposed on the number of English students who can be recruited by Scottish universities for 2020.
As part of the UK Government’s plans to cap the number of undergraduates that universities in England can teach in 2020-21, the Department for Education has also announced that it will extend the cap to include English students applying to higher education outside England.
The new policy will restrict the number of English students that can study at the likes of St Andrews University, meaning Scottish institutions will not be able to increase the intake of English students by more than 6.5%.
And that would mean it would only take 42 extra English students applying to St Andrews to breach number controls, and just 23 additional English students for Dundee University to break the 6.5% threshold.
St Andrews University has now hit back strongly, echoing the views of Universities Scotland which said the plans were “wholly unfair on students and student choice” and “disproportionately disadvantages Scotland”.
“St Andrews is currently UK University of the year and has been at the top of the UK National Student Survey for over a decade, while our neighbours Dundee have twice been UK University of the Year for Student Experience, yet this looks like an attempt to prevent bright students from south of the border studying at several of the UK’s best universities,” the university said in a statement.
“It is deeply regrettable that there has been no consultation with universities in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland about this, which raises broader concerns about the extent to which higher education in the devolved nations, and its critical importance to the UK economy, is even being thought about at Westminster.“
North East Fife MSP Willie Rennie has called on the UK Government to immediately abandon the proposals.
“Imposing a crude cap with no consultation, in the middle of a global pandemic when universities are already reeling from the financial body blows that are the virus and Brexit is an ignorant act,” he said.
“Our universities are being punished for the offences of others and it will undermine the very institutions that could help us out of the economic recession we now face.”
North East Fife MP Wendy Chamberlain also fears the cap will do much more damage to universities in Scotland.
She explained: “This is an overstep by the UK government and they must take a step back to think, working with the devolved governments for a system that works for our local universities here in North East Fife and across Scotland.”
UK Universities Minister Michelle Donelan said the controls would “stabilise the admissions system” and “avoid harmful over-recruitment among providers which could go against the interests of students and the sector”.
But Universities Scotland director Alastair Sim said having the cap apply north of the border was a “late and low blow” and could drive applicants away from Scotland.
The organisation described the move as “extraordinarily late” within the admission cycle, with offer holders only having until June 18 to respond to offers,
“Introducing this control at this point in the cycle can only be interpreted as a message to applicants not to study in Scotland,” it added.
The body also belives it gives Scottish universities “almost no scope” to manage their numbers and creates a competitive disadvantage for Scotland in the event of high deferral numbers.
Some surveys estimate as many as 40% of students may change their plans for 2020 entry given the current pandemic.
