How are the SNP supporting higher education?

We remain absolutely committed to the principle that access to education should be based on the ability to learn, not the ability to pay. Scotland is the only country in the UK that offers free university education, meaning that undergraduate students in Scotland do not accrue a potential additional fee debt of around £28,000.

Approximately 740,000 students—around three quarters of a million—have benefited from free tuition fees on higher education courses between 2007-08 and 2024-25. We also have the lowest average debt in the UK. The SNP is ensuring that a young person’s potential, not their postcode, determines their future.

This has helped in the drive to widen access – an increasing number of Scotland’s most disadvantaged young people are accessing university or college via UCAS. The number of 17- and 18-year-olds from the most deprived areas (SIMD Quintile 1) who have secured a place in university or college via UCAS has reached a record high in 2025 of 2,060 young people – a 5.5% increase on 2024.

Thanks to the 2026/27 Scottish Budget, universities are receiving a total rise in funding of more than £55 million, up 5% on last year.

Due to Brexit, the UK will no longer take part in the Europe-wide Erasmus exchange programme.

The Erasmus exchange programme has helped transform the lives of thousands of our students, schoolchildren, teachers, adult learners and young people, from across the UK.

The UK Government’s replacement, the Turing scheme, is less effective and does not enable overseas students to come to Scotland. We remain committed to Erasmus and will continue to advocate for Scotland’s inclusion in the programme.

We commissioned a Scottish Funding Council review into how best to achieve coherence and sustainability in the delivery of further and higher education. This is being addressed through the Tertiary Education and Training (Funding and Governance) (Scotland) Bill as it makes its way through Parliament.