Gemma Fraser: Colleges feel the strain as 'Lost Generation' squeezed out

IT has offered a lifeline to many school leavers fearing the dole queue and provided those faced with redundancy the chance of a fresh start.

But while embarking on a college course may have helped solve many a recession-inflicted problem, it has not waved a magic wand on all those people battling with unemployment and uncertain prospects.

It is now harder than ever before to secure a college place, following a dramatic rise in applications – an effect of the recession.

College principals have been forced to turn unprecedented numbers of applicants away as places on courses such as hairdressing, hospitality and construction have become full to bursting.

Those in the Lothians are turning away thousands, up to four times as many as last year, with one – Oatridge agricultural college in West Lothian – rejecting applicants for the first time.

The issue is set to take political centre stage with the Scottish Liberal Democrats making emergency funding for further education colleges a key demand in Holyrood budget negotiations. They are warning of the dangers of a "lost generation" as growing numbers of young people find themselves out of work, education and training.

Almost one in five 16-19 year olds in the Capital now find themselves facing that plight. And with unemployment in Edinburgh almost 50 per cent higher than in 2008 – more than 10,000 are now jobless and looking for work – it is not just the young that are affected.

While colleges were expecting increasing demand, the sheer scale of the upsurge has put a huge strain on student bursaries. Last year hundreds of students across Scotland had to drop out after bursaries funds were swallowed up, leaving them with no way of supporting themselves while they studied.

The good news is that the experience of last year means colleges will be better prepared this time round.

But competition remains fierce – particularly on the most popular courses – and students may see the value of their bursaries cut in order to spread the money available around to more people.

After being forced to turn away nearly 3,700 prospective students last year, Peter Malcolm, acting principal of Jewel and Esk, is confident every one of its 1,114 January applicants who meet their criteria will get a place.

"It's a big issue, there have been a lot more applications for colleges," he says. "But in fairness to the government and the Scottish Funding Council, they have been doing everything to make funding available to colleges.

"We expect a continuation in high numbers of applications and there will be more money through the economic downturn funding so we should be in a position to respond to it."

There are likely to be more college places but prospective students cannot all count on the same level of help covering their living costs while they study.

"The issue will be bursary funding," says Mr Malcolm. "If the number of applications keeps rising, then seeking bursary funding will be an issue."

Joinery, plumbing, construction and hairdressing have been amongst the most popular courses, as people train with specific jobs in mind to make them more employable when the market picks up.

Brian Lister, principal of Stevenson College, which has had to turn away 1,326 potential students from their first choice of subject, says the three Edinburgh colleges are working together to try to ensure more students get places.

As a result, if a student is turned away from one college, they may be directed to a spare place at another.

They are also working together to stretch the bursaries as far as possible so more students can be catered for.

There is clearly a limit to the number of extra places that can be sensibly created on any one type of college course, without creating a glut of, say, plumbers, leaving college in future without enough jobs for them to go to.

With applications set to remain at the current bloated levels this September, Mr Lister warns: "In order for more people to be able to access courses, we will have to stretch the bursary fund to give a smaller bursary to a larger amount of individuals. We are working closely with Jobcentre Plus looking at programmes for people who have been unemployed for more than six months so that they can come to college for between 13 and 18 weeks but retain their benefits.

"There's no doubt that as we move into the next year that additional funding would be hugely welcome, but we understand that we are entering a very difficult period in the public sector so we have to work more effectively."

As with every cloud, there is unsurprisingly a silver lining.

Business leaders see the current clamour for training places as a golden opportunity to plug skills shortages threatening the success of several industries in the Capital.

Graham Bell, spokesman for the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, called for any extra money being ploughed into colleges to be used for these types of vocational courses to help Scotland recover from the recession.

He said: "The government is in a very difficult situation and it doesn't have an increase in funding available to it.

"But I think in terms of looking at the priorities and looking ahead, it certainly needs detailed understanding as to how we can alleviate the situation and make it more possible for more people to be upskilled.

"Business is quite happy for that to be discriminatory to focus on skills we need to help the economy, such as construction skills, science and engineering and the caring professions."