BBC Question Time had a heated debate about tuition fees and student debt on Thursday evening.
No one questioned the basic premise that, as one panellist put it, without university education, “How are we going to raise the level of human capital and the skills gap?”
Then at the end a young woman said she didn’t go to university, learned on the job, worked hard, had no debt and makes a good living. Student debt is lower in Scotland but the situation is worse because the Scottish Government funds many more students compared to 30 years ago, when the state paid the full costs of students, almost all of whom got good careers because they got reputable, degrees.
The solution is fewer courses aligned to future skill needs, free to the most qualified, motivated students, with savings ploughed into better primary and secondary education and vocational training, aligned to employer needs, with what is left used to bring down the Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland deficit.
But our university sector, increasingly dependent on foreign student income, would collapse without the basic income from public funds.
The answer is a gradual recalibration towards common sense: fewer students, less student debt and a highly skilled, high earning, happier workforce. Which politician is brave enough to advocate this?
Allan Sutherland,
1 Willow Row,
Stonehaven.
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