{"id":685769,"date":"2026-01-10T02:13:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T02:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/685769\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T02:13:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T02:13:13","slug":"edinburgh-uni-chief-accused-of-shifting-the-burden-onto-scottish-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/685769\/","title":{"rendered":"Edinburgh Uni\u00a0chief accused of \u201cshifting the burden\u201d onto Scottish students"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE Edinburgh\u00a0University Student Association (EUSA)<\/a> has challenged suggestions from the\u00a0university\u2019s principal, Peter Mathieson<\/a>, that Scottish students should pay back parts of their tuition fees, despite guarantees of free tuition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In an interview with BBC<\/a> Scotland, Mathieson<\/a> claimed that due to the unsustainability of the funding model for Scottish universities, a \u201cgraduate repayment scheme\u201d,\u00a0contingent upon salary, could be introduced.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This would see avenues opened for higher earning domestic graduates from Scottish universities to pay back parts of their tuition fees, despite the Scottish Government\u2019s guarantee of free university tuition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The EUSA\u00a0has hit back at these ideas, expressing disappointment with Mathieson\u2019s \u201csimplistic\u201d comments, which \u201cshift the burden\u201d onto Scottish students.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Peter<\/a>Peter Mathieson has come under fire yet again, this time for suggesting Scottish students could pay back parts of their tuition fees (C) Consulate General of Japan in Edinburgh \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n

Peter Mathieson gave a long interview to\u00a0the BBC yesterday, complaining that Scotland\u2019s existing funding model is \u201cnot sustainable\u201d,\u00a0and calling for a radical change in thinking about funding and tuition fees north of the border.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He told the\u00a0Scotcast\u00a0podcast: \u201c\u201dI think Scotland\u2019s universities\u00a0are magnificent and\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0in danger and they need to be protected.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd they need to be protected by looking at the way in which they\u2019re funded.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIf you stick with this system of taxpayer-funded education, then it\u2019s perfectly possible to continue that system.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you\u2019ve got to put more money into\u00a0it\u00a0or you\u2019ve got to change the number of places that are being funded. Both of those are politically difficult.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOne other alternative is that some of those students make a contribution to the costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can either do it in the form of tuition fees, or they can do it in the form of some kind of graduate repayment\u00a0scheme,\u00a0and it can be contingent upon salary.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Strike action has been ongoing at the University of Edinburgh since early last year, when the university announced \u00a3140m worth of cuts and \u201cradical university-wide actions,\u201d leading to \u201ca smaller staff base and lower operating costs\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Three rounds of strike action followed before a breakthrough in negotiations was made following the university\u2019s commitment to no compulsory redundancies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

EUSA, who\u00a0represent\u00a0the student body, stood in opposition to management and Mathieson during the strikes, and have again expressed their antipathy to\u00a0Mathieson\u2019s suggestions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking today, Ash Scholz, EUSA president said that Mathieson, one of the highest paid university officials in the country, was shifting the financial burden onto Scottish students at a time when they can ill-afford it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They\u00a0stated: \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0absolutely right\u00a0to acknowledge that the current funding model for higher education in Scotland is under severe strain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cUniversities across the country are facing significant financial pressures, and students are not blind to the reality that the system as it stands is unsustainable in the long term.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

They added: \u201cHowever, although we share this concern, we are disappointed with Peter Mathieson\u2019s comments as reported, which feel simplistic for an issue this complex.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe funding crisis cannot be addressed by shifting the burden onto Scottish students.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFree tuition is a longstanding political and social commitment in Scotland, and it has been fundamental in widening access to higher education.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAny proposal that asks Scottish students to\u00a0\u2018repay\u2019\u00a0tuition costs, regardless of how it is framed, risks undermining that principle and placing\u00a0additional\u00a0financial pressure on graduates at a time when many are already facing rising living costs and insecure employment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Scholz outlined alternative solutions to Scotland\u2019s funding shortfalls, which have seen Dundee University bailed out by the Scottish Government to the tune of \u00a340m.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They said: \u201cSolutions to the funding crisis must come from government and from meaningful reform at a systemic level, not from asking students to shoulder the cost.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cScottish students did not create this situation, and they should not be the ones expected to pay for it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>A reported \u00a3140m funding black hole led to threats of painful cuts and sustained strike action in 2025 (C) Greg Headley \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n

The Scottish Government scrapped the graduate endowment scheme in 2008, making university tuition effectively free for Scottish students, and sustained free tuition has been one of the landmark education achievements of the SNP since coming to power.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Scottish Government is, however, exploring its options\u00a0regarding\u00a0higher education funding.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Higher and\u00a0further\u00a0education\u00a0minister Ben Macpherson said:\u00a0\u201cThe Scottish Government\u2019s commitment to free tuition is resulting in around 37,500 Scots securing university places in 2025, with record numbers of those from the most deprived areas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cScottish student debt levels are also the lowest in the UK and more than \u00a321,000 lower on average compared to students in Wales.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Scottish Government recognises the vital role that universities play in Scotland\u2019s economy and wider society, which is why we are investing over \u00a31.1bn\u00a0in the sector this year alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, we recognise the pressures currently\u00a0impacting\u00a0the sector, which is why we launched the joint Framework for Sustainability and Success of Scotland\u2019s Universities last month to explore options for securing its successful and sustainable future.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been done so with a clear commitment that this Scottish Government will not reintroduce tuition fees.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Programmes of cuts have been announced at universities across Scotland, including at Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Strathclyde, Heriot-Watt, Edinburgh Napier, and Stirling.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THE Edinburgh\u00a0University Student Association (EUSA) has challenged suggestions from the\u00a0university\u2019s principal, Peter Mathieson, that Scottish students should pay…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":685770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8816],"tags":[748,1102,33880,205958,207485,4884,25705,712,11312,207486,187835,16,15,207487,205960,23411],"class_list":{"0":"post-685769","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edinburgh","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-edinburgh","10":"tag-edinburgh-university","11":"tag-education-cuts","12":"tag-free-tuition-fees","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-peter-mathieson","15":"tag-scotland","16":"tag-scottish-government","17":"tag-scottish-students","18":"tag-tuition-fees","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom","21":"tag-university-chiefs","22":"tag-university-cuts","23":"tag-university-of-edinburgh"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115868388738293193","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=685769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/685770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}