9th January 2013 9:00
By Blue Tutors
The Scottish government have announced that they will make £10 million available to fund 2,000 extra places at university for Scottish students. The places will be available to students from deprived backgrounds, in an attempt to improve access for poorer students. This comes shortly after Scottish Labour leader, Johann Lamont criticised the SNP’s free tuition policy.
The £10 million will be made available in 2013-14, and will make 700 places available on widening access schemes, 1,000 places for students moving from college to university, and 300 for people on the skills for growth scheme.
Lamont has said that providing free university tuition has not improved access in the way that it is intended to, and that not charging tuition fees isn’t viable long-term, without a serious reduction in the standard of university education.
The Scotland education secretary, Michael Russell has said that this financial package underlines their commitment to provide university education for everyone, including those from the poorest backgrounds. He added "Even within our limited fiscal powers, our actions to ensure young people access education based on ability to learn rather than the ability to pay underlines our commitment to supporting a highly skilled workforce and a growing economy."