GOVERNMENTS AND UNIVERSITIES MUST ACT NOW TO PROTECT OUR STUDENTS, SAYS FORMER MSP
The commencement of a five-week strike at the University of Edinburgh, planned to run until 30th October, is deeply alarming for students, families, and our wider Lothian community (writes FOYSOL CHOUDHURY MBE).
While I fully respect university staff and support their fight against compulsory redundancies and excessive workloads under proposed £140 million budget cuts, we cannot allow our students to become collateral damage in this ongoing crisis.
There is a common misconception that all home students in Scotland attend university completely free. The reality is that thousands of local Scottish students enrolled in Postgraduate Diplomas, professional qualification courses, and specialized diploma programs are paying thousands of pounds directly out of their own pockets. Many exhaust life savings or take on heavy personal debt to gain these essential qualifications for their future careers.
At the same time, international students pay exorbitant tuition fees alongside steep visa and living costs to study in our capital city. Whether local diploma students or international postgraduates, these individuals have invested enormous amounts of money with the expectation of receiving top-tier, uninterrupted education.
To expect students to pay premium fees, or exhaust life savings, while losing over a month of core lectures, seminars, and academic support is unjust and unacceptable. Their degrees, financial livelihoods, and future career prospects are being placed at serious risk through no fault of their own.
University management must urgently return to the negotiating table with staff and trade unions to resolve this dispute fairly. Crucially, university leadership must immediately put protections in place, including academic remediation and financial compensation or tuition fee rebates for lost teaching time.
However, the burden does not rest solely on the university. The Scottish Government must also take accountability for the systemic funding crisis across our higher education sector.
Throughout my tenure in the Scottish Parliament representing the Lothian region, I have continuously raised parliamentary questions, challenged Ministers, and worked on parliamentary committees to champion student welfare, from campaigning against spiraling student housing costs to advocating for hardship support and fair education funding.
Our universities cannot fix institutional budget deficits at the expense of staff security and student futures.
Emergency action is required now from both university leadership and government ministers to step in, protect our staff, and ensure our students get the education and fairness they have paid for.
