European university students coming to Scotland next year will have their free tuition guaranteed by the Scottish Government, John Swinney has announced.
The Education Secretary and Deputy First Minister also called on the UK Government to guarantee post-study work visas to those who complete their degrees in Scotland.
Conservative universities minister Jo Johnson MP has said access to tuition fee loans and other support would continue throughout their course after enrolling in 2017 or 2018, even after the UK leaves the European Union.
Scottish university principals and trade unions have been urging Holyrood ministers to offer the same certainty to those applying to study north of the border in 2017.
Perth and North Perthshire MSP Mr Swinney told the SNP conference: “We have already confirmed tuition fee funding to support EU students studying here, or preparing to start this year.
“Now, we will extend that guarantee to those starting next year in 2017/18.
“And, unlike Labour and the Tories, that’s tuition-free education we are guaranteeing – not the massive fees they impose on students wherever they come from.
“But let me go further. We will guarantee their funding. But what I demand is that the Tory-Brexit government guarantee their right to stay here during the studies and work here after their studies.
“They are not ‘cards; to be played. They are human beings. To use them as negotiating chips is obscene and we will have no part of it.
“The Tory-Brexit government’s threat to people’s right to stay here is just another part of the hard-right agenda now running rampant at Westminster.”
University leaders welcomed the announcement, having called for it just days earlier.
Alastair Sim, director of Universities Scotland, said: “This gives universities the certainty that they need to be able to focus on what really matters in a student’s application; that is their talent and potential to thrive on the course.
“The UK Government has moved to provide assurance on funding arrangements for EU students applying to universities in England but we still need certainty on the immigration status of EU students who will still be studying on degree courses in Scotland for two or more years after the UK has potentially left the EU.”
Labour’s education spokesman Iain Gray added: “This is a welcome guarantee to this year’s applicants to Scottish Universities from the EU. But it is very late – universities had to open applications without being able to tell EU students the position, and some course applications have closed already.
“I sincerely hope John Swinney did not hold back this announcement just so he had something to say in his conference speech, because that really would be disgraceful.”
Elsewhere in his speech, Mr Swinney attacked the “pathetic” Labour Party’s response to the Conservatives’ rhetoric.
He also pledged to consult with local communities to allow them to have more control over issues with affect them.
