WRITTEN QUESTION E-0376/00

by Christopher Heaton-Harris (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(14 February 2000)

Subject: Higher education tuition fees

Devolution in the UK has led to the anomaly where Scottish and EU students will be exempt from paying tuition fees in Scotland whereas English, Welsh and Northern Irish students will be the only EU students who are not exempt.

As there is no precedent for this type of devolution within the EU, does the Commission feel that this constitutes a case of discrimination against English, Welsh and Northern Irish students? If so, what actions do it intend to take?

Joint answer to Written Questions E-0374/00, E-0375/00 and E-0376/00 given by Mrs Reding on behalf of the Commission

(15 March 2000)

Under the terms the EC Treaty, each Member State is responsible for the content of its teaching and the organisation of its education system.

Under Community law, the Member States are not obliged to award grants or aid to help students to cover their education fees. This is a matter for the Member States to decide. It is only when a Member State awards grants of this kind to nationals that the Treaty requires it to treat non-nationals in the same way. The principle of equal treatment means, in practice, that all teaching establishments must accept students from other Member States under the same conditions as their own nationals. Students may therefore not be required to make any extra payment on grounds of nationality.

Given that students from other Member States are treated in education establishments in Scotland in the same way as students from that country, the situation to which the Honourable Member refers does not involve discrimination on grounds of nationality and is therefore not contrary to Article 12(ex Article 6) of the EC Treaty.

The fact that the regulations governing enrolment fees are different in the rest of the United Kingdom is a matter of national law and is not within the Community's competence.

As regards the mobility of students under the Erasmus programme, the general rule is that all students participating in the programme are exempted from enrolment fees. Consequently, the Scottish arrangements do not affect mobility under Erasmus.

Finally, as regards the application of the competition rules to which the Honourable Member refers, the Commission feels that the activities of universities within the national education system should not be considered as commercial or financial activities and that the competition rules do not therefore apply.

Nor can these activities be regarded as services within the meaning of the Treaty. The Court of Justice has already ruled that courses provided in a higher education establishment which are funded primarily by the State do not constitute services within the meaning of Article 50 (ex Article 60) of the EC Treaty.

If the measures to which the question refers apply to university and higher education establishments, where the purpose of the Member State is not to make a profit but to fulfil its duty to its population in the social, cultural and educational field, this does not constitute a service within the meaning of the Treaty. In fact, the system referred to is generally funded by the State and not by the students or their parents. In any case, the nature of the activity is not affected by the fact that the students or their parents are sometimes obliged to pay education fees to make some contribution to the operating costs.