Universities were told there would be no blank cheques

Last month, Jim Wallace said university bosses needed to come up with more creative funding ideas rather than just demand more cash from the state.

The issue of funding has become a contentious one since the Westminster Government promised to introduce top-up tuition fees in England.

It is not yet clear what impact that would have on Scottish universities.

However, higher education institutions fear the worst north of the border.

In the context of the UK funding debate, Scottish university principals will tell Mr Wallace why they think they need an extra �100m.

The officials will meet Jim Wallace

The minister for enterprise and lifelong learning has not ruled out providing more cash, but he disappointed some university chiefs last month when he warned that there would be no blank cheques.

Tuesday's informal discussions are an opportunity for both sides to voice their concerns.

Last month, Professor Bill Stevely, convener of Universities of Scotland, warned the Scottish Executive against trying to run universities "on the cheap".

He said Scotland currently suffered from a funding gap with comparable European competitor nations of �169m, although Scottish universities were seeking only a further �100m from the executive.

But Mr Wallace said he was not confident that large additional injections of government money into the system would provide a long-term solution to the future funding challenges.