Scotland universities: Will the future of ‘free tuition’ become a key political battle? The SNP is hoping so

Humza Yousaf’s party seeks to take advantage of uncertainty among rivals

The future of free university tuition is shaping up to be a key political battle in the run-up to the next Westminster and Holyrood elections.

The SNP is certainly hoping it is, anyway. This might seem odd, given the pressure the Scottish Government has faced over cuts to higher education funding, and a reduction in the number of places for Scottish students.

Many commentators increasingly question the wisdom of the £900 million-a-year initiative in an era of ever tighter budgets, and point to the “cap” it creates on the number of Scots who can attend the nation’s universities.

There is fresh debate over higher education funding in Scotland. Image: Chris Ison/PA Wire

The doubts will only intensify as more institutions reveal plans to cut jobs and courses in the coming months as a result of the spending squeeze, and a fall in fee-paying international students, linked to UK immigration restrictions. But the SNP will be calculating the issue is potentially much more politically hazardous for its opponents.

That was clear in the way Humza Yousaf’s party seized on a report in The Times that quoted Labour’s Michael Marra as saying the party would need to “find a new formula” for university funding, before pointing to “models across Europe”, and to “things that we had previously, whether it be graduate taxes, whether it be endowments”.

Sensing an opportunity, Mr Yousaf subsequently wrote to Labour leader Anas Sarwar asking him to clarify Labour’s position, and outline “how high the fees should be?”.

Meanwhile, the Scottish Conservatives still support free tuition, although finance spokesman Liz Smith has suggested she backs a graduate tax.

Since Mr Marra’s remarks, the SNP has sought to focus attention on the issue, unveiling a proposal to enshrine free tuition in a notional constitution of an independent Scotland.

And it led a Holyrood debate and vote on a motion that said “undergraduate students in Scotland should not be expected to pay any form of tuition fees”.

During the exchanges, Labour’s education spokeswoman Pam Duncan-Glancy said: “We support the delivery of free tuition for Scottish students who attend Scottish universities.” Willie Rennie from the Lib Dems did likewise, while recalling “this is a rather sensitive subject for Liberal Democrats”.

There is little doubt the furious backlash to the infamous U-turn by Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats over tuition fees in England will be fresh in the minds of SNP strategists.

Whatever some surveys might suggest, they will believe any alternative funding model that is perceived as likely to add a greater debt burden to Scottish students, and their families, will not be a vote winner.

There would also be questions over whether any new system would solve the problems. After all, English students are charged fees of up to £9,250 a year, yet English universities are still facing similar financial pressures to those north of the border.

Where, then, does all the political positioning leave Scotland’s universities?

At the end of his tenure as director of Universities Scotland, Alastair Sim wrote in The Scotsman last month there was an increasing need for “mature consideration” of how to address the challenges, amid the threat of “severe degradation”.

He said the debate needed to move beyond the polarising “fees versus no fees” discussion. As the polls narrow, this might be optimistic.