29 March 2000
ADAM INGRAM WELCOMES QUIGLEY REPORT
Minister of State, Adam Ingram, this afternoon welcomed the publication today of the Quigley Report looking into fee support for students from Northern Ireland, England and Wales studying in Scotland in their fourth year.
The Quigley report recommends that Scotland should meet the cost of exempting these students from paying their tuition fees in that year. The Scottish Executive has accepted that recommendation.
Mr Ingram said: "I am most grateful to and congratulate Sir George Quigley and his committee for their comprehensive and balanced examination of what is a very complex issue.
"The Government has accepted the recommendations addressed to it in the report. The Scottish Executive has accepted that it should meet the net costs of tuition fees of students from Northern Ireland, England and Wales and in their fourth year in Scottish universities.
"I am particularly pleased for the considerable number of Northern Ireland students who traditionally choose to take their degree courses at Scottish universities.
"The Government will discuss with the Scottish Executive the precise mechanism for paying those fees and the impact on student support. I expect this to come into effect for students who enter the first year of their courses in September 2001."
NOTES TO EDITORS:
- The establishment of the Quigley Committee in 1998 came in response to criticism of the situation under the new student support legislation whereby, unlike Scottish students, those from Northern Ireland, England and Wales would not receive exemption from tuition fees (£1025 at present) in the final year of Scottish four-year degree courses, where similar degree courses in Northern Ireland, England and Wales are of three years duration. Such students, unlike Scottish students, normally spend two years in the sixth form studying for A levels and the Government's view is that four year courses are, therefore, generally unnecessary.
- Members of the Committee were: Sir George Quigley, Chairman of the Ulster Bank; Lord Burns, formerly Permanent Secretary to the Treasury; Professor Michael Hamlin, formerly Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dundee; and Sir Philip Jones, Chairman of the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales.
- The latest statistics on accepted applicants (for entry to HE in 1999/2000) show that of the 31,216 applicants accepted at Scottish institutions, 1,490 were from Northern Ireland, 4,531 from England and 110 from Wales. For comparison, 22,695 were from Scotland and 2,390 were from the EU or elsewhere overseas. In other words, almost 20% of the intake of students to Scottish institutions this year came from Northern Ireland, England and Wales.
- The full title of the Quigley report is the Report of the Scottish Fee Support Review. Media copies of the report are available from Katherine Fleay at the Scottish Fee Review at 10 Greycoat Place, London SW1P 1SB. Telephone number is 0207 960 6491. Other copies are available from the Stationery Office (ISBN 0-11-271084-0) on 0870 600 5522.
For further information please contact Simon Burrowes on 01232 257831 or 0850 976067