Colleges forced to axe courses as cash runs out

COLLEGES across Scotland have been forced to cut back or even scrap courses which started in January because they have run out of money.

• Stevenson College in Edinburgh: One of the affected colleges. Picture: Craig Stephen

Soaring demand for a place over the past two years has meant colleges have had to accept record numbers of students for the autumn entry in August and September. However, that has left little money for taking on new students in the traditional second entry period at New Year.

Hundreds of people who would normally have taken up a place in January have lost out, according to an investigation by the National Union of Students Scotland. Of the 13 colleges that responded to an NUS Scotland survey, a total of 1,875 places have been cut from the traditional January intake. The figure for all 43 of Scotland's colleges is likely to be higher.

Inverness cut January places by half – from 153 to 78 – in both 2009 and this year. Telford cut New Year entry places from 1,460 to 1,033 – a drop of 49 per cent. Clydebank cut places from 1,919 to 947 this year.

Dundee, Dumfries and Galloway, Elwood in Fife, Motherwell, and Stevenson in Edinburgh have also cut back and Aberdeen has scrapped its January intake altogether.

Dundee College blamed an unprecedented strain on bursary and student support funds after last year's intake rose by 10.4 per cent. Principal Christina Potter said next year's cash allocation announced by the Scottish Funding Council earlier this year left the college facing a decrease of 522,000.

She added: "At the same time, the college's student support fund allocation for 2010-11 was down by 299,000 on the current year's allocation, giving the college a potential hole in its budget of 822,000."

Aberdeen principal Rob Wallen blamed the scrapping of New Year course starts on the soaring demand for places last year, which brought record applications across Scotland.

Coatbridge principal John Doyle said the college was so stretched financially, its current activity was 9 per cent above the funding it has been allocated. He said: "We have been able to achieve this only through the efforts of staff and our highly-successful alternative income strategy, but … that cannot be sustained."

NUS Scotland president Liam Burns said thousands of people had missed out in January. He said: "Having courses which start in January is crucial to provide flexibility to students, whether it be people coming into education after a break, those leaving school at Christmas, or those out of work … looking to learn new skills."

A major factor in reducing the number of January courses has been the financial pressures colleges face, and this is now having an impact on students, he said. "Many colleges have had to dip into reserves just to fund their summer intake as demand has far outstripped funding from government. The current funding system is failing colleges, staff and students in Scotland."

A spokeswoman for Scotland's colleges said the extra funds allocated by the funding body were not enough to cope with the demand.

"The Scottish Funding Council has announced an additional 16.2 million of additional funds for colleges across Scotland to provide extra student places for the 2010-11 academic year," she said. "But college principals are disappointed that extra funds are not being allocated to all colleges in Scotland to cope with the increasing demand for college places."