Economist questions tuition fees.

A Nobel Prize-winning economist has compared education in the US and England and says university tuition fees are a cause for concern.

Professor Joseph Stiglitz says a lot of poorer youngsters simply cannot afford to go to university and get a degree in America and he believes education is "one of the most important contributors" to growing inequality there.

The Columbia University professor has advised both the French and US governments and is now a member of the Council of Economic Advisers in Scotland, which does not charge tuition fees to Scottish students at Scottish universities.

He was speaking about the issue in the US and England as well as in Scotland to MSPs at Holyrood and he thinks that the current situation in England is "a source of concern".

Last year's official figures show that one in three English institutions now intend to charge students the maximum tuition fees figure of £9,000 as standard for a degree, and three quarters will demand it for at least one of the undergraduate courses on offer.

Copyright Press Association 2013