It’s taken 30-plus years but finally our university system is facing an existential threat due to the predictable consequences of vastly expanding tertiary education by, on the one hand, maintaining the “free” element while on the other saddling students with debts that many struggle to pay off or never actually reach the earnings threshold that triggers loan repayments, the inevitable consequence of diluting the system with lower-ability students and courses in, for example, sports and event management, psychology, media studies and the like.

This was all in the name of attainment and social mobility. And to pay for it very sophisticated marketing, extolling not just the cachet of getting a Scottish degree, but also the fantastic lifestyle and night life, was used to lure foreign students, a revenue stream augmented by dabbling in the accommodation industry and siphoning seemingly limitless public funds. And now the gravy train has moved on as our universities’ quality declines.