UK Edition
SNP under attack over free tuition cap as number of Scots missing out on university place almost doubles
The number of Scottish applicants missing out on a university place has almost doubled in a decade, official figures have disclosed as the SNP faced further accusations of creating a clearing system that favours English school leavers.
Universities admissions body Ucas has published data showing the number of Scots who failed to win a place after the 2006 admissions cycle was 8,625 but this increased to a record 16,520 last year.
The SNP’s free tuition policy is only affordable because Nationalist ministers impose a cap on the number of places allocated to Scottish and EU students.
Universities Scotland last night said the figures showed it is getting “harder and harder” for Scottish applicants to win a place thanks to the “strict controls” imposed.
Although the number of Scots who had yesterday won a place is up four per cent compared to the same point in the admissions cycle last year, universities said the overall quota for Scottish and EU school leavers is around the same as it was in 2015.
A damning Audit Scotland report published last month found that the cap has not kept pace with an increasing number of applications, meaning more Scots are losing out on a place.
The cap also forces universities to offer a two-tier clearing system, with the Tories highlighting hundreds of courses being offered only to students from the rest of the UK because their Scottish quota has already been reached.
Alastair Sim, the director of Universities Scotland, said: “The number of Scots getting a university place this year is up and that’s very good news. But there was hard evidence from Audit Scotland last month to show that sadly, it is getting harder and harder for Scottish applicants to get an offer of a place at Scotland’s universities.
“That’s not because universities want to limit opportunities but because the number of well-qualified applicants far outnumbers the strict controls on the number of funded places that universities can fill.”
He said universities would welcome talks with ministers about increasing the quota “to ensure we are giving opportunities to bright applicants from diverse backgrounds with the potential to do very well at university.”
Audit Scotland warned last month that unless the cap on Scottish places is lifted, then poor Scottish children will be admitted at the expense of their middle-class counterparts. The latter could miss out on a place even if they have better exam grades.
The number of full-time places allocated to Scottish students increased by seven per cent between 2012/13 and 2014/15 but the number of applications increased by 15 per cent.
The Ucas statistics show the number of Scottish applicants who were “unplaced” after the admissions cycle increased from 8,280 in 2007, the year before the SNP scrapped a back-end graduate endowment, to 16,520 last year.
The totals in both years include applications made by Scots to universities across the UK, but the vast majority were submitted to Scottish institutions. They also include those who turned down the offer of a place, although this is thought to be a negligible number.
Over the same period, the number of English youngsters missing out on a place also initially increased rapidly, from 68,610 in 2006 to 135,360 in 2010. However, it has since fallen by more than a quarter to 100,115.
A record number of students were recruited to English universities last year after the UK Government lifted a cap on places, allowing them to taken on as many as they see fit.
The Telegraph disclosed yesterday how the University of Edinburgh is offering places through clearing - the system used to allocate places for students who did not get the exam grades they required for automatic entry – on 130 courses for English youngsters but only one to their Scottish peers.
According to the Ucas website yesterday, Aberdeen University was offering clearing places on one course for Scottish students but 79 for English students. The figures for Glasgow University were five and 497 respectively.
Liz Smith, the Scottish Tories’ Shadow Education Minister, said: “Everyone knows that the real cause of these clearing discrepancies is the SNP's discriminatory funding policy for higher education.
“It is this that has forced universities into accepting the capped policy for Scottish domiciled students which, in turn, means that clearing offers are reduced for many Scottish students thereby making it much easier for rest of the UK students to pick up these final places.”
She predicted that the situation would only get worse thanks to new targets imposed by Nicola Sturgeon for the proportion of youngsters from deprived backgrounds that universities have to admit as they would displace other Scottish children unless the quota is increased.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Thursday’s Ucas figures confirm that at this stage in the cycle, a record number of Scottish students have secured a place at university."
He said the quota for Scottish had increased by 1,734 this year, although universities say the increase is mainly for deprived in the fourth year of their degree, and these places could not be taken by students from the rest of the UK.
A Ucas spokesman noted that last year’s figures include teacher training places for the first time, but senior university sources noted that the trend of more students missing out was well established before that.