Heriot-Watt fined £300k

HERIOT-WATT University has been fined £327,000 for taking on too many students last year.

The university was the second-biggest offender in Scotland with almost 300 extra full-time places filled. The highest was Aberdeen, which was fined more than £ 1 million for taking on 800 extra students.

Restrictions on Stem-related courses, including science, technology, engineering and mathematics, were lifted three years prior to 2010-2011 in order to raise student numbers in key areas crucial to Scotland’s economy, but the move was reversed as part of cost-cutting measures. The university said it was unable to reduce numbers in a single year to comply with the new level.