The government in Scotland can only guarantee its policy on university tuition fees will remain in place if the country stays in the UK, a former university vice-principal has claimed.
Professor Susan Shaw, former vice-principal of Strathclyde University, spoke out as the campaign group Academics Together challenged First Minister Alex Salmond to publish any legal advice he had received on the issue.
Today the group will publish a report which will warn plans to continue to impose tuition fees on students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland after independence “would run into significant problems with European law”.
The report will claim: “If Scotland leaves the UK, and joins the EU as a separate state, the rest of the UK will become like any other European Union country.
“As a result, Scotland will be legally obliged to provide university education free to students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland.”
