UNION LEADERS at colleges in Angus and Dundee have repeated a warning of a “bleak future” for the further education sector in Scotland.
As the boards of the two establishments work towards a merger which will create a 1,200-employee single college with a £40 million annual budget, further education regionalisation is moving towards legislation through the Post 16 Education (Scotland) Bill.
Education secretary Michael Russell has established a stakeholder sounding board to discuss the passage through parliament of a bill which introduces provisions covering areas including a tuition fee cap, university governance and widened access.
College regionalisation is also integral to the bill but senior figures in the three main staff unions in Angus and Dundee colleges say the outcome of the changes will be a “Cinderella service” of further education.
A joint statement issued by EIS-FELA, GMB and Unison renewed concerns over the merger of the two colleges.
“The continued agenda of the current education secretary and Scottish Government to merge 41 colleges into 13 will see courses cut, jobs put at risk and an adverse effect on the communities they serve,” it said.
“Yet according to the David Hume Institute report which was published in October, this year in terms of funding it appears that the colleges obtain significantly less public funding per head than universities and also less than secondary schools.
“Despite this and the lack of qualifications that many of their students have on entry the success rate of the college sector is only slightly lower than that of HEI’s,” added the unions’ statement.
“Now that regionalisation is moving towards legislation in the form of the Post-16 Education (Scotland) Bill, there are concerns, not just from trade unionists, but also Audit Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).”
The trade unions say projections indicate the regionalisation costs are set to rise to £54 million.
“The further education sector has already received cuts of up to £74 million which has resulted in the loss of 7% of staff over 1,000 jobs lost,” added the joint statement.
“The sector now finds itself with further cuts of £122 million over the next three years. In our opinion, this will be devastating to the sector.
“They have also raised fears that college support staff could face the axe as part of any cost-cutting rationalisation. We are under no illusions that the education secretary is looking to make further education a Cinderella service.”
The trade unions added: “For those from a less affluent background, a deprived area or needing a second chance in education, options are sadly diminishing with these brutal cuts.
“This reinforces the impression that the Scottish Government is denying tertiary education opportunities to Scotland’s working class communities. ‘
“Just over a year ago, we saw the education secretary perform a U-turn over his own proposal to merge Dundee and Abertay Universities.
“His U-turn came after a highly successful campaign by students, trade unions and the local community opposing this move a campaign that was also supported by staff and students from Dundee and Angus Colleges.”
The trade unions continued: “Ironically, in a recent consultation conducted by KPMG on the college merger, both universities stated that it would be better for the two colleges to merge.
“So while Mike Russell backtracked over university mergers, he has put considerable pressure on Scotland’s colleges to merge,” added the unions.
gbrown@thecourier.co.uk