College to cut one in 10 jobs after number of foreign students falls

Published on Wednesday 3 June 2009 22:04

ONE of Scotland's biggest colleges is looking to cut 50 jobs to save money after being hit by the recession.

Telford College bosses blame a financial shortfall in the institution's income on a lower-than-expected number of overseas students enrolling and a lack of commercial contracts.

Senior management at the Edinburgh further education institution are in talks with unions on how compulsory redundancies can be avoided.

The news emerged just days after it was revealed applications to Scottish colleges have soared by 30 per cent as people facing redundancy seek to retrain.

The sector's umbrella group, Scotland's Colleges, has asked the Scottish Government to provide additional funding for more places to feed the unprecedented demand.

Currently, Telford College has a workforce of 650 and the posts at risk include part-time, full-time and temporary positions.

The Edinburgh college's depute principal Greg Irving admitted it is looking at cost-saving measures.

He said: "Just like many other businesses at the moment, Edinburgh's Telford College is not exempt from these turbulent economic times.

"Unfortunately we find ourselves in a position where some commercial contracts have dried up and income streams from international students and other areas have not materialised to the levels we'd expected."

However, he said alternatives to compulsory severance were being explored such as early retirement packages.

He added: "These options include the retraining and redeployment of staff, non-filling of current vacancies, stopping the employment of agency staff, voluntary sabbaticals and reduction of working hours."

A spokesman for the EIS union which represents college lecturers said it was in discussions with the college.

He said: "We will continue to discuss the issue with both lecturing staff and the college management to attempt to reach a satisfactory resolution.

"EIS policy is to oppose compulsory redundancies and we will continue with negotiations to deliver the best outcome both for lecturing staff and for the college itself."

Labour's further and higher education spokeswoman Claire Baker said the Scottish Government needed to "get a grip" of the financial hardship facing Scotland's colleges.

She said: "For a college to be threatening redundancy for almost a tenth of its staff shows the depth of problems it faces, and this is not an isolated incident, with similar problems across other colleges in Scotland.

"Whether this is down to the economic downturn or because of the clear shortages in funding from government, it's clear Fiona Hyslop must do more to help colleges, staff and students through the difficulties they face.

"It seems very strange for colleges to be making redundancies at the same time as we've seen a 30 per cent increase in applications to colleges across Scotland."