Dundee University has defended its clearing system after it emerged Scots are being turned away from courses amid a recruitment drive for foreign students.
Dozens of courses at the university have been closed to Scottish and EU students, who receive free tuition, but still have places available for fee-paying students from non-EU countries and the rest of the UK.
The situation has arisen because all universities in Scotland are given a set ”quota” for the number of Scottish and EU students they can recruit.
The limit is required so the public purse can afford the SNP Government’s commitment to provide free tuition.
However, the universities also recruit thousands of foreign students, who pay hefty tuition fees in a cash boost considered vital to keeping the institutions afloat.
Controversially, applicants from England, Northern Ireland and Wales also have to pay the fees, despite students from EU countries such as France getting them for free.
School leavers who did not attain the Higher grades they required are currently scrambling to get a place for next year through the clearing system.
The Conservatives claimed the ”two-tier” system means Scottish students are losing out.
Education spokeswoman Liz Smith said: ”How many Scottish students will find they can’t get a place because of Alex Salmond’s stubborn refusal to live in the real world?”
But a spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said the number of Scottish applicants accepted into universities had increased this year.
”We have protected university places for Scottish students and recent figures show a 3.1% increase in the number of Scottish applicants accepted to our universities,” she said.
A spokesman for Dundee University added: ”The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) allocates each university in Scotland a number of funded places for students from Scotland and the EU, and imposes financial penalties should institutions over-recruit against this number.”