Universities and academics at loggerheads over tuition fees cap

Scottish universities have been warned they risk being seen as "cash cows" if they raise tuition fees for students from other parts of the UK.
The Scottish Government wants to enshrine the current voluntary limit of £9000 a year in law, but university leaders say legislation is unnecessary and would infringe on their autonomy.Organisations representing academics and students have urged MSPs to endorse or reduce the £9000 fees cap, which is paid by students resident in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Mary Senior, Scottish official for University and College Union Scotland, said: "We do feel very strongly about this introduction of a market into Scottish higher education."
She told MSPs that the "least worst option" was to set a flat-rate fee for RUK (Rest of UK) students across the sector, to prevent them from being seen as "such as cash cow as potentially they are now".
Robin Parker, president of NUS Scotland, said Holyrood's fee cap "goes beyond even the worst excesses of what the Westminster Government is proposing", with degrees costing as much as £36,000 for other UK students in Scotland. Read more...