Students at Abertay University are said to be “deeply concerned” about the impact of a big rise in fees for people coming to study from other parts of the UK.
William Mohieddeen, president of the students’ association, has written an open letter to acting principal Professor Nicholas Terry urging him not to raise fees in 2012/13, when the maximum Scottish universities are allowed to charge rises from the current £1800 a year to £9000 potentially costing English, Welsh and Irish students £36,000 to complete a four-year degree course.
He said the Scottish Government’s decision to lift the limit to match English universities posed a “great threat” to the open and equal culture to which Abertay aspired.
Adding a price tag to a student’s time at university would encourage a value-for-money mindset that turned students into consumers.
He said, “Any teaching fellow at this institution, I presume, would not take to their role being described as a service provider, which is how students will view them if forced to become customers.
H”The diversity of Abertay’s students is a great advantage to studying here, as there is the opportunity to engage, debate and interact with talented and intellectual individuals from other cultures.
“To discriminate against any section of non-Scots-domicile UK students will foster a society of resentment and division that will become difficult for any social or academic interaction between students at Abertay, creating a sense of educational apartheid.”Freeze urgedHe added, “It is worrying that the issue of discrimination has not been prevalent in discussion of rest-of-UK fees.
“Why have non-Scots-domicile UK students been chosen to take the burden of the cut in higher education funding?
“Does Abertay wish to accept this form of discrimination as a politically acceptable solution to the higher education funding situation?”
He wanted the university to freeze fees for rest-of-UK students.
Education secretary Mike Russell has argued that raising fees would protect places for Scottish students.
The extra money is also meant to help fill a funding gap between Scottish and English universities.
This has been estimated at £200 million by 2014/15, but could be much more.