Leading Article: Make them pay

The Scots are in a pickle about how to fund their universities. The reason is their stance on fees. Having set its face against top-up fees, the Scottish Government promised to fund universities from public money.

But as soon as the going got tough, it reneged on its promise, with the result that Scottish universities will be short of £138m over the next three years. Scottish politicians need to bone up on university funding and pass on their new-found knowledge to the electorate.

They should charge students more on the grounds that graduates get better jobs than non-graduates and should contribute towards the cost of their degrees.