Calls have been made to extend financial support for students after a survey published today showed that one in four Scots would be put off from studying part-time due to tuition fees.
The poll, conducted by MORI for the Open University (OU), found that 24% of those asked said that the cost of studying in part-time education would stop them from taking this route.
The proportion was the highest amongst the unemployed, with over 52% saying they would like to study and 73% saying that associated fees prevented them from doing so.
Some 2165 people from the north-east of Scotland studied with the Open University in 2009/10, with over 15,000 Scots in all using the institution.
The findings prompted calls for the Scottish Government to explore ways of extending the cash support available to part-time students to ensure that cost does not stop people entering higher education.
James Miller, director of the OU in Scotland, said the arguments for making part-time education free were both about fairness and about the future of Scotland’s economy.
“Access to higher education should be based on the ability to learn, but many part-time students at university continue to have to pay tuition fees,” he said.
“There’s clearly an issue about fairness, but it is also a critical issue for the government to address early on, if our economy is to grow and remain competitive.”