You report (Call for free university for children of asylum-seekers, May 21) that Universities Scotland is calling on the Scottish Executive to end its current discrimination against asylum-seeking students. I have long campaigned for this as rector of Edinburgh University. Currently, asylum-seekers, or the children of asylum-seekers, are asked to pay very expensive overseas student rates to attend Scottish universities, despite the fact they may have lived in Scotland for many years and completed their Standard Grades and Highers in Scottish schools.
However, you report that Tory higher education spokesman Murdo Fraser opposes this call by our universities. He argues that giving asylum-seekers a chance to go to university may encourage a wave of refugees.
He is morally wrong. Asylum-seekers come to our country from the poorest, war-torn areas of the world. They have often lived in Scotland for many years, studying at school and making friends here. Why should they not be allowed to go to university with their friends?
He is academically wrong. Our universities will only be the best if they can choose applicants based on ability to study, not ability to pay.
He is economically wrong. The Scottish Executive is investing money to keep graduates in Scotland through the Fresh Talent initiative. Does Mr Fraser really think the only people who should be excluded from work and study here are those in most need? Asylum-seekers and their children want to make a contribution to the country giving them refuge. Putting barriers in their way will only diminish the contribution they make. I support our universities in calling for a fairer deal for asylum-seekers and their children.
Mark Ballard, Rector, University of Edinburgh, Old College, South Bridge, Edinburgh.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article