The State and University Finance in Modern Scotland

Abstract

While in England most of the teaching cost in universities has been transferred from direct state funding to student fees, paid on a deferred basis, the Scottish Government is committed to maintaining free university education. The Green Paper on higher education issued in 2010 seeks to justify this policy. It invokes the national tradition of democratic education, and appeals to 'our longstanding national belief in the commonweal' and to 'the social contract that citizens in Scotland have with the state'. It expresses confidence that 'public opinion in Scotland remains strongly in favour of ensuring that the prime responsibility for funding education at all levels remains with the state'. The document opposes the marketization of education pursued by United Kingdom governments since the 1980s, and 'the forces of globalization' generally. It asserts that 'a free, inclusive system of providing educational opportunity for all' should run 'all the way from the schoolroom to the university', as in the past. The consultation document does not altogether rule out a 'graduate contribution', but the minister's speech introducing it declared that tuition fees were 'off the table', and that remains the political situation.