Scotland’s universities have delivered an extraordinary warning that they are at a “tipping point” following deep SNP funding cuts and cannot continue to provide a “diversity” of excellence.

Universities Scotland, their umbrella group, told a Holyrood inquiry that their public funding has been reduced by 12 per cent since 2010/11 and “they simply cannot absorb any more cuts.”

Alastair Sim, the organisation’s director, said universities now only receive only 90 per cent of the cost of teaching Scottish students – who get ‘free’ tuition – and their “world-leading” research is under-funded at 86 per cent of what it costs to deliver.

He concluded they are in an “unsustainable situation” and warned that further cuts would put at risk the quality of both teaching and research.

When combined with problems caused by Brexit, he said that “universities find themselves face-to-face with a sustainability challenge that is reaching the point where they risk not being able to operate today without damaging the ability to do so tomorrow”

His outspoken intervention followed an official Audit Scotland report in July that warned cuts in funding meant maintaining the country’s world-leading reputation for research would be “challenging.”

It also found that Scottish school leavers are being squeezed out of university because the SNP’s cap on places, imposed so that free tuition is affordable, has not kept pace with the increasing number of applications.