Free education?!

As a student, I hate university fees and am daunted by the debt that will hang over my head through most of my working life. Tuition fees have reached an all time high at £9,000 per year commencing in 2012; however this is not the case in Scotland. Scottish universities will continue to provide a free education for all Scottish nationals and EU students exempting other UK and Northern Ireland students.

Some of you may wonder why Scotland is able to introduce different rules and regulations for their nationals. The Scottish Government is responsible for all issues that are not explicitly reserved to the UK Parliament at Westminster by the Scotland Act 1998, Schedule 5; such devolved matters include health, justice, policing, transport and education.

However, Public Interest Lawyers is challenging this funding scheme criticising it as discriminatory and thus an infringement of the European Convention of Human Rights, Article 14 which states that "the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in this Convention shall be secured without discrimination on any ground such as sex, race, colour, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin  association with a national minority, property, birth or other status." Further, a claim can be made under the Equality Act 2010 with regards to "protected characteristic" including "national origins".

The Scottish have clearly discriminated against students from the rest of the UK and it is unclear how the Scottish will defend their position in court. I personally find this ruling to be outrageous and am keen to see how it will be justified.

Further, I find it unfair that the Scottish are able to rule on such important matters, such as tuition fees, irrespective of rulings by Westminster Parliament; but that's devolution for you.