Scottish university leaders have hit out at the United Kingdom government after it capped the number of students from England they can enrol, saying the move is unnecessary and shouldn't be enforced north of the border.

Scottish education chiefs reacted to the UK government's plan to control the number of students from England who can study in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, saying that it was punishing them for problems caused by the novel coronavirus outbreak in England.

With universities facing an uncertain future due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there are fears that some could make mass unconditional offers to applicants to ward off a potential funding shortfall.

The Department for Education in England confirmed a cap on the number of undergraduates each university can recruit this autumn-limiting institutions to an increase of no more than 6.5 percent in the number of new students.

The government has made the move in an effort to stop universities poaching student applicants from their rivals and benefit from fees paid, reported the Guardian newspaper.

Scottish Higher Education Minister Richard Lochhead said the move was "deeply disappointing and unnecessary".

And Universities Scotland said it was "wholly unfair on students and student choice" and "disproportionately disadvantages Scotland".

English, Welsh and Northern Irish students have to pay tuition fees north of the border, while the Scottish government funds places for students from Scotland and the rest of the EU.

In 2018-19 there were 5,245 full-time first degree entrants to Scotland's universities from England, the BBC reported. Applications for courses starting in 2020 were up 3 percent year-on-year prior to the pandemic, it said.

UK Universities Minister Michelle Donelan said the controls would "stabilize the admissions system" and "avoid harmful over-recruitment among providers which could go against the interests of students and the sector".

Universities Scotland Director Alastair Sim said having the cap apply north of the border was a "late and low blow".

He said: "Number controls were a specific solution to address a specific admissions problem in England, that Scotland's universities had no part in.

"The devolved administrations should be removed from this intended legislative change-it is not the role of the UK government to determine student numbers in Scotland."

The BBC's education correspondent, Jamie McIvor, said that Scottish universities are expecting a "big drop" in the number of students from countries outside Europe who pay uncapped fees of about 30,000 pounds ($37,700) a year.

But he said that an increase in the number of students from the rest of the UK, whose fees are a fraction of this, would not have made up for this loss of revenue.