Drop in funding leaves college leaders fearful

Education Secretary Mike Russell this week swapped the corridors of the Scottish Parliament for City of Glasgow College where he was on hand to launch their latest innovation, a Merger and Research Partnership Centre designed to offer information to fellow further education institutions on future cooperation.

“This is a welcome move, particularly against the backdrop of post-16 reform, and with City of Glasgow already having provided a successful example of institutions coming together, I expect the Centre to be well-used by private and public organisations alike,” said the SNP minister. However, the environment under which future mergers between the country’s colleges are likely to take place remains a lot less certain.

Six days earlier, City of Glasgow Principal Paul Little and his colleagues at the forefront of the further education sector across Scotland were informed via letter from Mr Russell teaching budgets would be slashed by 8.5 per cent in 2012/13 – on top of the 10 per cent cut withstood last year.

Full details of each institution’s level of the funding for the coming year, set to be outlined in a grant letter drawn up by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), remained shrouded in darkness, though.

Asked when the letter would be sent to colleges, an SFC spokeswoman told The Journal: “We’re still working on a date for that.”

The delay – Scots universities were filled in on their exact funding settlement more than four weeks ago – has ensured an anxious wait for college leaders together with their student counterparts, irrespective of Scottish Government promises to maintain the number of places on offer as part of more than £500 million of programme funding being invested in the next academic year.

Ahead of the detailed release, Russell said: “The expected settlement is better than anticipated, despite the UK Government making significant cuts to the Scottish budget, and comes in the context of the ongoing reform of post 16 education in Scotland.”

Nonetheless, John Spencer, convener of Scotland’s Colleges, an umbrella body that represents principals throughout the sector, failed to share the same enthusiasm, casting a pessimistic point of view on the sector’s ability to withstand further savage cuts.

He said: “The Scottish Government’s announced move to cap the level of cuts in the first year of the reform process at 8.5% is a helpful development.

“It is, however, important to restate that this will still be an 8.5% cut coming after a 10.4% cut in the current year. Colleges want to protect places, and committed to retain activity at the same level with the 10.4% cut this year, but we remain to be convinced as to how this may be achieved again.

“We will be seeking urgent clarification on the details of the settlement, and how extra support may come from the Scottish Funding Council and Skills Development Scotland to help colleges protect places for learners without compromising quality.”

And the National Union of Students (NUS) Scotland underlined the need for students across the country to join forces under the banner of their recently-launched ‘Our Future Our Fight’ campaign, which has reportedly seen more than 60,000 emails sent to MSPs in the last month concerning the situation facing the sector.

The effort has come at a time when education in Scotland has emerged at the forefront of the political scene amid debacles over fees set to be charged to rest of UK students from next year onwards.

Robin Parker, NUS Scotland president, said student support funding was being maintained at December 2010 levels, representing a cut of £15m once finance secured as part of its Budget for Bursaries campaign last year was taken into account.

Parker said: “It’s unacceptable the Scottish Government is proposing a cut to this year’s college student support budget, as it returns us to a level of support that students rightfully campaigned against a year ago.

“The SNP committed directly to students ahead of the election that it would improve student support, but the Cabinet Secretary’s actual proposal would do just the opposite, returning us to funding levels that saw too many students face extreme financial hardship.

“MSPs need to listen to the many students who have contacted them, recognise the devastating effect that the cut in the support budget will have and ensure that funding is at least maintained at current levels.

“Equally, we need urgent clarification on what 'protecting numbers' means, as this is entirely different to protecting places, which is what the SNP committed directly to students that they would do as part of its election campaign. Our campaign to protect places, access, quality and provision goes on, as we urgently look for the Scottish Government to listen to students and ensure colleges are protected.”

Meanwhile, the Scottish Government has come under pressure inside Holyrood to declare precise scale of sector cuts.

Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesperson, Liam McArthur MSP, said: "This announcement from the Education Secretary still leaves individual colleges across Scotland in the dark about their individual funding allocations.

“Planning for next year has been made difficult, if not impossible, for Scotland’s colleges, particularly when it comes to developing the new regional structures that Mr Russell wants in place by February.”