Scottish Universities for English student ?

[traceyinrosso]

My forward planning year 11 DD1 is starting to look at Uni entrance requirements and been looking at Stirling. Anyone got kids there ? She is looking at doing French with History. A level grades seem bit lower than eg Nottingham, Birmingham etc. Anyone know what its like and what halls are like ?

[crazycarol]

Hi, a friend of mine went to stirling uni. Stirling is a lovely town and place to live. All first years should get a place in halls, they are typical of halls of residence, quite a good place for first years to start and make friends etc.
It has quite a good reputation for graduates too.
Make sure when you are looking at exam grades that you look at both 1st and 2nd year entrance. First year entrance will almost certainly be lower than other English unis because it is a 4 year degree. However if you have good grades it is possible to go direct into 2nd year and complete the degree in 3 years

[traceyinrosso]

Thanks for that - I will get her to check the grades to enter in year 2 !

[oldmum42]

typically, the A level grades required to enter 2nd year will a fair bit higher than for 1st year entry. Strathclyde and Herriot Watt also tend to have slightly lower "asking rates" for Alevel student entry to 1st year, but have good reputations - good choices if you feel your DC may score a little less well at A level. Herriot Watt is similar to Stirling in it's Campus, both have a stand-alone parkland setting. My DS2 was at HW open day yesterday and was greatly impressed with the layout and the fact it's only 30min by by bus to Edinburgh city centre.

Don't forget, all uni's in Scotland are now charging RUK students (ie welsh, Irish and English, fees of around £9000 per year (some charge a little less) - some give the extra, 4th year free, some don't, some have not announced their fees yet but will do soon). So it may cost MORE to study in Scotland - and I have to say, as an Aberdeen Graduand myself, once you move outside the central belt, travel becomes a bigger issue both cost wise and due to the fact there is a more restricted bus/train timetable, all of which should be considered! For Stirling, I'd say a car would be useful if funds allow, it is in the middle of nowhere......

[spanieleyes]

My son now refuses to consider Scottish Universities, not because they are charging students £9000 per year ( after all most universities are!) but because they are charging RUK students and not EEC ones which he doesn't see as fair! Although the entry levels to year 1 are lower, the 4 years instead of 3 is another minus point! Much as I would like him to look at scottish universities ( simply because I like Scotland and Stirling was a firm favourite of mine) it looks like it will be England or Wales-Aberystwyth anyone!

[crazycarol]

spanieleyes, I think that you will find that the welsh assembly are doing similar to the scottish government and charging welsh residents a much reduced fee structure to the rest of UK students, only for some reason this hasn't received the same attention as the scottish fee structure!

[oldmum42]

Scotland is currently UNABLE to charge EU students under current EU law, we would like to, it costs the Scottish (as Scottish "free" university places are funded by the Scottish, not British taxpayer) tax payer around £75 million per year to fund places for EU students. A work-around is being sought to enable EU students to be charged too.

I reiterate - "free" university places in Scotland are funded by Scotland. Scottish universities simply had no choice, they had to increase fees to RUK students to match the fees set by English universities, or face a huge tide of fee refugees from 2012 (students for whom Scottish Universities would receive NO funding from England). Blame your MPs for this...... not ours! It may sound unfair, but would it be fair to expect Scottish taxpayers to pay for English taxpayers children to go to Uni?

BTW, my son starts at an English Uni next week, and will pay £3500 for 3 years (pre-clinical medicine) then move on to paying £9000 per year for his 3 years clinical study. ALL of this would be "free" if he'd stayed in Scotland, but I wouldn't dream of complaining about the fees - nobody is forced to apply to Universities outside of their own country and if you chose to apply elsewhere you just have to accept the fee regime in that place - or don't apply!