Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Angus College protest at cuts to ‘Cinderella service’

Kim Cessford, Courier 10.05.11 - staff and students at Angus College, Arbroath held a demonstration against proposed budget cuts  - pictured are the demonstrators showing the cuts the red card
Kim Cessford, Courier 10.05.11 - staff and students at Angus College, Arbroath held a demonstration against proposed budget cuts - pictured are the demonstrators showing the cuts the red card

Staff and students from Angus College held a lunchtime protest as part of a national day of action against spending cuts.

The event attracted 75 past and present students and employees, and was organised by the Further Education Lecturers Association, a branch of the EIS union.

Similar protests were held in March after anger over the impact that reduced funding will have on staffing and service provision.

EIS branch secretary Yvonne Cargill said that further education was often the poor relation when it came to spending, and challenged re-elected First Minister Alex Salmond to address the inequality.

She said, “The protest went really well and I was pleased with the amount of students who took the time out to support us, including some who had come in on their day off.

“Lecturers from across all departments in the college were also involved, as were representatives from EIS and Unison.”

“It is not just lecturers that are affected by these cuts it is also office workers and other support workers. Right across the further education sector there is still the threat of compulsory redundancies.

“There is no doubt we are the Cinderella service and many people forget that further education provides a second chance for those who, for whatever reason, have not excelled at school.”

The Unison protest in March pushed the trade union’s message of No Funding-No Future, while Tuesday’s theme was ‘Show education cuts the red card’.

Colleges across the country have had a 10.4% cut in finance from the Scottish Funding Council, with many fearing a devastating impact on staff, students and communities.

Campaigners claim the move will lead to a loss of courses, staff and opportunities for students due to begin courses this summer.

The funding council has a £1.5 billion budget for the academic year, which begins in August, comprising £956 million for universities and £528m for colleges more than 8% down on spending this financial year.

University teaching budgets have been cut by 10.9%, funding for research is down by 0.6% and capital funding for both sectors will fall by 38%.

NUS Scotland has already held an event at the college to urge students to sign up for a national demonstration.