Students from outside
Scotland could apply to Scottish universities and avoid fees if
they have an Irish grandparent
Students studying in England and Wales can
avoid the £9,000 universities fees and graduate debt free if
they can prove they have an Irish grandparent thanks to a recently
discovered legal loophole. The new law means that thousands of
extra students could apply for free places at Scottish universities
by taking up republic of Ireland citizenship.
According to the 2001 census over 625,000
people claimed Irish ethnicity and it is thought there is around 6
million people across the UK could benefit from this loophole. The
Scottish Government has been quick to play down the implications of
this arguing that this loophole will only apply to a very small
minority of people and recent signs have shown that there has been
an increase in applications by only 6% however this could increase
next year.
Gordon Watson president of the university and
college union Scotland was however far less optimistic about the
impact of this new loophole and said; “Those with a dual-European
passport will compete with Scottish students for the capped number
of places in clearing and a huge rise in such applications is
likely next year.
"This is another incidence that shows the
introduction of fees for UK students outside of Scotland will play
havoc with the admissions process as universities try to maximise
student intake from those diminishing number of UK students who
will pay fees."
A spokesman from the Scottish Government
countered this saying ; "Students who hold dual-UK and EU
nationality have been able to apply for fee support as non-UK EU
nationals at Scottish universities for a number of years, but there
is no evidence to suggest this has ever happened on a significant
scale or that it is likely to.”
The outcome of this is unclear although the
opportunity to graduate university debt free will undoubtedly
be a draw to many considering studying in the future.
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