College funding - 'It is a shame that cuts drive the agenda'

AS a city with a high number of students, Edinburgh is suffering more than most as massive public sector cuts bite at universities and colleges.

The protests yesterday by Telford College students and staff may be just a taste of things to come as other educational institutions - and, indeed, other public sector establishments - reveal details of where the axe will fall. Jewel & Esk and Stevenson colleges have already done so.

With our economy bust, it is clear to any sensible observer that savings do need to be made, but there is criticism of the way cuts are being delivered, including those at Telford by chief executive Miles Dibsdall.

While we can understand concern that perks like free coffee for lecturers will survive the cuts, it is possible to have some sympathy for Mr Dibsdall, who says he is being forced to cut a tenth of his staff after he was handed a 2.4 million budget reduction.

No wonder, like many at the sharp end, he has hit out at the speed and scale of the cuts forced by the drip-down effect of funding constraints from the Westminster coalition.

The particular problem for higher and, especially, further education is that they have been encouraged to grow rapidly for nearly two decades - often, it seemed, more to cut youth unemployment than to meet business demands for skilled workers.

Now that the funding tap is being turned off, there is inevitable and immense pain. The shame is that it is the cuts that are driving the agenda rather than a sensible review of how we best ensure that the nation's future needs for graduates are met.

No more gravy

Just last weekend, the News made the case for a cull of paid politicians, including the number of councillors.

That call came on the day we reported that one Labour member had spent three hours playing Sudoku during a key meeting at the City Chambers, and it will have struck a chord with those readers who are not on the political gravy train.

Yet today we reveal a plan, not to cut but to actually increase the number of councillors, by no fewer than 15 in Edinburgh. That would be an extra 250,000 a year alone in salary, before adding expenses and other costs to council taxpayers.

We won't bother reheating the arguments we made on Saturday about the surplus of elected politicians we now have, post-devolution.

Suffice to say that at a time when we face the closure of nurseries and cuts in police and teacher numbers, the last thing we need is more councillors to share what is clearly not an overbearing burden of office.