Free university tuition would be enshrined in an independent Scotland’s constitution, SNP ministers have said amid warnings the policy is squeezing out homegrown students.
Humza Yousaf’s government published the latest in a series of independence papers, this time on education, despite it being a policy area that is already devolved to Holyrood.
SNP ministers have overseen Scotland tumbling down international school league tables for maths, reading and science over the past 17 years, with the latest assessments showing English pupils performing better.
But the report argued that independence would allow ministers to “further improve” the education system and proposed free university tuition be included in a written constitution.
It said that an independent Scotland in the EU would mean students from the Continent would “once again enjoy the same access to higher education as Scottish students”. EU students also received free tuition before Brexit.
The SNP’s free tuition policy is only affordable by capping the number of “free” places for Scottish youngsters. There is no such cap for children from the rest of the UK as they pay fees.
Official figures have disclosed there was a 56 per cent increase in Scottish applications between 2006 and 2021 but an 84 per cent rise in the number refused entry.
Extending this right to EU students would mean there would be even greater competition for the fixed quota of “free” places, risking more Scots missing out.
Unveiling the paper, Jenny Gilruth, the SNP Education Secretary, said: “As we have already set out, we would enshrine economic, social and cultural rights – including the right to education – in the interim constitution, effective from day one of independence.
“The Scottish Government would propose that our policy on free university tuition is enshrined in the permanent constitution of an independent Scotland, subject to the deliberations of the constitutional convention.”
