Warning over budget cuts for Scotland’s colleges

BUSINESS leaders have raised concerns about cuts being made to Scotland’s further education sector amid warnings from colleges that student numbers have fallen by 80,000 in the past two years.

The Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI) is among the bodies which will today warn MSPs on the Scottish Parliament’s education committee that cuts to college budgets are harming the country’s economy and jobs market.

Meanwhile, the body representing the further education sector, Scotland’s Colleges, has warned of falling staff and student numbers and has called for more funding to carry through mergers as part of a Scottish Government’s strategy. The colleges are undergoing a transformation that will see institutions merged and reorganised around 13 regional boards.

But while universities have seen an increase in the amount of funding they receive from the Scottish Government, colleges are seeing their budgets cut.

In its submission to today’s committee meeting, the SCDI expresses its concern about college budgets, despite finance secretary John Swinney announcing an extra £17 million for student support in last month’s budget.

“The additional funding goes some way towards rectifying the large cuts made to the sector in last year’s budget,” the submission states.

“SCDI members remain concerned that despite this increase, the long-term trend for college funding is a substantial cut. It is important that colleges are able to maintain both student numbers and the quality of education, particularly over this challenging economic period.”

Scotland’s Colleges said it expected to see a fall in revenue of £113m between 2010-11 and 2014-15, with a £6.6m fall in the core teaching budget for this year.

The organisation said the “strong downward trend for teaching funds” was a concern in terms of “retaining student numbers, breadth of curriculum and quality of teaching”.

Its submission to the committee calls for more money to help push through mergers between colleges.

Scotland’s Colleges chief executive John Henderson said: “The £15m College Transformation Fund announced for 2012-13 was a one-off fund to support structural change in Scotland’s college sector.

“Since the closing date for that fund, a number of college mergers have been announced and it’s unclear what will be available for colleges seeking to merge in the forthcoming year.

“We would like clarity on how the college sector will be supported as regionalisation continues. Mergers will create efficiency savings, but these will not be realised immediately.

“The regionalisation project is moving at pace and it is important that colleges receive ongoing support so that they can continue to deliver the best quality teaching for learners.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We have increased funding for the sector for academic year from £545m in 2011-12 to £546m in 2012-13. In addition, we are maintaining support for students at £95m and focusing college provision on the 16 to 24 age group.”