Scottish independence: rUK tuition fees ‘illegal’

By ANDREW WHITAKER
Published 17th Jan 2014, 00:20 BST
Alex Salmond meets fireinvestigation dog, Billy, at the Scottish Parliament yesterday during a visit to highlight the benefits of using dogs to sniff out cases of wilful fireraising. Picture: Jane BarlowAlex Salmond meets fireinvestigation dog, Billy, at the Scottish Parliament yesterday during a visit to highlight the benefits of using dogs to sniff out cases of wilful fireraising. Picture: Jane Barlow
Alex Salmond meets fireinvestigation dog, Billy, at the Scottish Parliament yesterday during a visit to highlight the benefits of using dogs to sniff out cases of wilful fireraising. Picture: Jane Barlow
Plans for an independent Scotland to continue to charge tuition fees for university students from the rest of the UK “would be illegal”, a former European commissioner for education has claimed.

The SNP government white paper on independence set out plans to continue charging English students attending Scottish universities tuition fees while having free education for those from other EU nations.

However, Jan Figel, a former deputy prime minister of Slovakia who was EC education commissioner between 2004 and 2009, said if Scotland left the UK and became a member of the EU, students from England and Wales should receive “the same treatment” as Scottish students – who do not have to pay to study at universities north of the Border.

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Current EU rules prohibit states from discriminating on the grounds of nationality, meaning Scotland has to give fee-free university education to EU students from outside the UK in order to keep studying at university free for Scottish students.