CROSS BORDER STUDENT FLOWS:
HIGHER EDUCATION TUITION FEE LEVELS
UNISON Scotland's response to the Consultation
on Cross Border Student Flows: Higher Education Tuition Fee Levels
May 2005
Executive Summary
-
In his report, "Review of Basic Medical
Education in Scotland", Professor Calman identified
several mechanisms for increasing the number of doctors in
Scotland and we expect that all of these will be explored.
Introduction
UNISON is Scotland's largest trade union representing
150,000 members delivering public services in Local Government,
Health, further and higher education, energy (gas and electricity),
water, transport and the voluntary and community sector.
This paper constitutes UNISON Scotland's response
to the consultation document issued by the Scottish Executive
on Cross Border Student Flows: Higher Education Tuition Fee Levels
Response
UNISON Scotland welcomes the opportunity to comment
on the above Consultation by the Scottish Executive.
We wish to say at the outset that we appreciate
fully the dilemma being experienced by the Executive in its endeavour
to attract sufficient new doctors to Scotland, as highlighted
in the Calman report, "Review of Basic Medical Education
in Scotland". We also believe that Scottish Universities
have an enviable reputation throughout the World as centres of
excellence.
We believe that the measures proposed in the Consultation
to introduce a higher flat-rate tuition fee for English and Northern
Irish medical students studying at Scottish Universities will
be a retrograde step. The long-term viability of our universities
depends on them retaining their position as centres of excellence
which means they must be able to attract the best students, not
just the richest. This in turn will lead to greater attraction
of research grants, a prime indicator of success. The introduction
of the additional fee, akin to the top-up fees being charged in
England and Northern Ireland, threatens that principle and could
lead in the long run to Scottish universities being adversely
affected, when compared with those in England and other parts
of the UK.
UNISON Scotland appreciates that funding for higher
education in Scotland has increased markedly since the inception
of the Scottish Parliament. Nevertheless, we believe there is
still room for improvement and to this end we echo the sentiments
of Sir Muir Russell, Principal of the University of Glasgow, who
has repeatedly called for increased funding of the Higher Education
sector.
UNISON nationally is opposed to the introduction
of top-up fees in England and Northern Ireland and has campaigned
through the TUC for their abolition. We are concerned they could
lead to a two-tier system in higher education; increase student
overall debt and in particular, believe they act as a disincentive
to entering public sector employment. Whilst not successful in
this aim, the campaign was successful in gaining important concessions
from the Government.
UNISON Scotland supports the Scottish Executive's
focus on increasing the number of doctors available to work in
NHS Scotland and welcomes the research carried out by Professors
Calman and Temple on the situation of medical students in Scottish
Universities. We note the analysis on the extent of Scottish domiciled
students who continue to work in Scotland and appreciate the need
to maintain the level of Scottish students accepted into the Scottish
medical schools. However, Professor Calman identified several
mechanisms for increasing the number of doctors in Scotland and
we expect that all of these will be explored. The other measures
included: an increase in the overall number of medical students;
improvements in postgraduate training; improvements to the terms
and conditions of consultants; encouraging doctors from other
countries to come and work in Scotland. On the latter point, UNISON
would recommend the Executive to develop initiatives for medically
qualified refugees who are already in the country to enable them
to become registered and encourage them to practice in Scotland.
We support the recommendations of the Calman Report
to widen the range and diversity of medical students and the proposals
for working with Scottish Secondary schools. We particularly believe
that the entry requirement of five Highers at a single sitting,
which cannot be accommodated in many secondary schools, must be
removed.
We support the comments made by the National Union
of Students that it would be more productive to introduce incentives
for medical students to remain in Scotland, and calling for other
incentives to be properly considered. We support the comments
of Universities Scotland in their belief that increasing the tuition
fees "is not the only, or probably even the most effective,
way of addressing the perceived problem: it is making a medical
career in Scotland appear attractive that is the surest way of
retaining doctors, whatever their domicile prior to their medical
studies". We also support in total the comments of the BMA
Scotland which we believe sum up the major part of our submission.
