SNP MSPs applaud College Cuts
The response of local SNP MSPs to the plans to merge the local Ayrshire FE Colleges as part of a regionalisation project really took my breath away. For Chic Brodie and Adam Ingram to paint such a rosy picture of our colleges’ future they must be really naive or prepared to be deliberately misleading. While they were predicting a bright future for FE, I was hearing a very different story from Chairs and Principals of Scotland’s Colleges at a meeting in the Scotland Office in London.
According to calculations based on official Scottish Funding Council (SFC) figures, the Scottish Government’s planned cuts would have resulted in the amount of public money being spent per college student falling by more than 9% since 2010/11.
And estimates suggest that – if funding continues to fall at predicted rates – student spending could drop by as much as 17% by 2014/15.
College staff are already bracing themselves for a wave of job cuts as the Scottish Government presses ahead with plans for a series of regional mergers.
It has been argued that removing unnecessary tiers of management as part of restructuring can deliver savings for the frontline. However, sector figures have warned that maintaining student numbers without sufficient funding would lead to larger class sizes, reduced teaching time and greater staff workload.
David Belsey, national officer for further education for the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) teaching union, said: "Last year, the SFC reduced the number of hours colleges need to teach full-time students and the sector saw a thousand workers leave.”
John Henderson, Chief Executive of Scotland's Colleges, which represents principals, said: "Colleges worked hard in the last year to become as efficient as they can, to maintain teaching activity at the same level despite funding cuts, and prevent there being an impact on their students. As the amount of teaching funding available to colleges is squeezed over the next three years, there will be risks to the sector's ability to maintain both excellence and breadth“
I was relieved that Mr Swinney finally listened to Labour, the other opposition parties and the 80,000 students who had written in to demand that he think again about the cuts to student support and FE budgets. However, after saying that he will cut the budget by £40 million this year, rising to £74 million in two years time, it is simply not enough for him to give back £19 million and expect a round of applause, SNPs Adam Ingram and Chic Brodie should be ashamed of themselves for applauding a cut disguised by smoke and mirrors. At a time when 200 Scots a day are losing their jobs, the last thing that the Government should be doing is cutting training places for young people.
The response of local SNP MSPs to the plans to merge the local Ayrshire FE Colleges as part of a regionalisation project really took my breath away. For Chic Brodie and Adam Ingram to paint such a rosy picture of our colleges’ future they must be really naive or prepared to be deliberately misleading. While they were predicting a bright future for FE, I was hearing a very different story from Chairs and Principals of Scotland’s Colleges at a meeting in the Scotland Office in London.
According to calculations based on official Scottish Funding Council (SFC) figures, the Scottish Government’s planned cuts would have resulted in the amount of public money being spent per college student falling by more than 9% since 2010/11.
And estimates suggest that – if funding continues to fall at predicted rates – student spending could drop by as much as 17% by 2014/15.
College staff are already bracing themselves for a wave of job cuts as the Scottish Government presses ahead with plans for a series of regional mergers.
It has been argued that removing unnecessary tiers of management as part of restructuring can deliver savings for the frontline. However, sector figures have warned that maintaining student numbers without sufficient funding would lead to larger class sizes, reduced teaching time and greater staff workload.
David Belsey, national officer for further education for the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) teaching union, said: "Last year, the SFC reduced the number of hours colleges need to teach full-time students and the sector saw a thousand workers leave.”
John Henderson, Chief Executive of Scotland's Colleges, which represents principals, said: "Colleges worked hard in the last year to become as efficient as they can, to maintain teaching activity at the same level despite funding cuts, and prevent there being an impact on their students. As the amount of teaching funding available to colleges is squeezed over the next three years, there will be risks to the sector's ability to maintain both excellence and breadth“
I was relieved that Mr Swinney finally listened to Labour, the other opposition parties and the 80,000 students who had written in to demand that he think again about the cuts to student support and FE budgets. However, after saying that he will cut the budget by £40 million this year, rising to £74 million in two years time, it is simply not enough for him to give back £19 million and expect a round of applause, SNPs Adam Ingram and Chic Brodie should be ashamed of themselves for applauding a cut disguised by smoke and mirrors. At a time when 200 Scots a day are losing their jobs, the last thing that the Government should be doing is cutting training places for young people.