Scottish college reviews courses after £1.3m budget cut as ‘stark consequences’ warned

Jim Metcalfe said the college was one of the losers in the recent changes implemented by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and the immediate effect was a further defunding of £1.3 million.

He said Fife College was “a highly responsible and resilient college”. But he warned: “The scale of the challenge now created by these changes is clearly precipitous.”

In coming weeks, the college will be implementing an essential review of courses, services and its operating model “to ensure its financial sustainability”. The principal warned: “This will have implications for our staff team, the scale of our academic provision, and the accessibility of our campus facilities across Fife. “

Fife College's St Brycedale Campus in Kirkcaldy (Pic: Scott Louden)

His organisation runs campuses for 20,000 students across five communities from Dunfermline to Kirkcaldy, Glenrothes, Levenmouth and Rosyth.

Mr Metcalfe, who was appointed in 2023, laid out the road ahead in an email to all senior councillors, MPs and MSPs across Fife this week.

He said: “No regional college could withstand this discontinuity between real cost increases and diminishing income, after a sustained period of underfunding. Colleges no longer retain the reserves required to manage through periods of heightened financial risk, like the one we now face.

“We will keep working with our funding partners to make clear the challenge posed by this approach – both to sustainability, and also to the future prospects for a skilled economy for Fife. We are also highlighting the immediacy of the impact. Your support in continuing to make those points is hugely appreciated.”

Jim Metcalfe, principal at Fife College (Pic: Submitted)

Mr Metcalfe said the SCF communicated its intention to change the funding model for college education several months ago.

“In the SFC and Scottish Government’s own words, this process would produce ‘winners and losers’,” he said. “Unfortunately, Fife has been deemed one of those colleges to be at detriment through this approach.

“The immediate effect – as confirmed in the final funding allocations for colleges published last week – is a further defunding of £1.3m in annual learning and teaching investment for Fife in the coming year. This compounds the effect of a 19.8 per cent real terms reduction in our core budgeting over the last three years.”

He said the SFC also had plans to further reduce learning and teaching funding to Fife over the 2026 period, which would widen its funding gap.

The funding concerns came as the college revealed how the first year of its action plan for improvements had made huge strides.

Early withdrawal of students has halved to 3.2 per cent – the lowest since 2016 and an extra 300-plus students who in previous years might have dropped out of education early are now progressing through their courses to further study and work. The percentage of students successfully completing their courses is up by 10% while applications to study at Fife are 5% higher year on year, and courses are oversubscribed for the first time this decade.