Recommendation 17

Although there is no formal cap on the number of Scottish students who can study at Scottish universities, in order to budget effectively, the Scottish Government predefines the funding it provides to Scottish universities each year to cover the cost of tuition for Scottish students. This has the result of creating an unofficial cap on the number of Scottish students who can study at Scottish universities each year. According to the Scottish Government: 22 Education spending in the UK, Briefing Paper 1078, House of Commons Library, 4 December 2020 23 Q54 24 “Douglas Ross: Scottish Tories to support free university tuition”, BBC News, 6 October 2020 25 The Scottish Parliament (SPICe Spotlight), ‘The price of free tuition in Scotland’, accessed 24 January 2021 26 Secretary of State at the Scotland Office (USC0011) 27 Audit Scotland, Finances of Scottish universities, September 2019, para 50 Universities and Scotland 11 Each institution is allocated a number of full time equivalent funded places via the Scottish Funding Council for eligible Scottish domiciled [ … ] students on full-time undergraduate courses. The total number of funded places in Scottish universities [was] over 128,200 in 2019–20. International students and those from other parts of the UK [ … ] are not eligible to access the funded places which have been protected for Scottish [ … ] students. To enable flexibility in student recruitment, the Scottish Funding Council allows universities to recruit up to 10% above the number of funded places available. In addition to this, universities are able to offer as many places to [students from other parts of the UK] and international students as they wish.28