NUS celebrates 90 years at annual conference

Toni Pearce was reelected as VP for FE

Over 1,500 students from across educational institutions in the UK descended upon Sheffield’s City Hall to attend the National Union of Students (NUS)flagship National Conference.

National conference is the sovereign body of the NUS and sees delegates electing their representatives and policy for the forthcoming academic year. A raft of policy was debated and approved by delegates regarding the Union’s political stance on various aspects of further education (FE).

Celebrating 90 years since its formation, the NUS, has often been criticised for its prioritisation of more higher education related campaigns. However in recent years efforts have been made by many to raise the profile of FE within the NUS and to more ferociously campaign on the issues that the FE membership mandate the Union with.

On day two of the conference Toni Pearce was re-elected in a landslide victory to the office of vice president further education for the NUS.

Pearce, formally President of Cornwall College Students’ Union, was elected in the first round of voting, securing 127 of 199 votes. Her opponent Jamil Keating received 69 votes and “re-open nominations” three.

Speaking during the election’s hustings on the second day of conference, Pearce said: “NUS must move forward with our narrative of a fair, high quality tertiary education system for all, based on parity of esteem between academic and vocational, supported by genuinely independent information advice and guidance and properly funded by the state.”

Following on from the ballot of FE delegates and her re-election in Sheffield, Pearce explained to FE Week the mandate that she has been given by her membership for the forthcoming year.

We are witnessing an entire generation of young people not just being forgotten by their government, but being completely abandoned”

“I am overwhelmed that the FE membership has given me the opportunity to once again represent FE students. My first term has thrown at me many challenges and our movement begun the fight to protect our sector and students. From the harsh withdrawal of EMA to the proposed removal of the Care to Learn grant. We have only seen what two years of this Coalition Government has done to the sector, we have another three.”

Pearce went on to declare that her second term will be one where she leads the Union’s refocus to those who are the most vulnerable.

“We are witnessing an entire generation of young people not just being forgotten by their government, but being completely abandoned. Successive governments have attempted to pull the rug from under young people, and maybe they’ve almost been successful. But I absolutely refuse to sit back and accept it. Last year we were successful in our campaign to prevent the withdrawal of Care to Learn and I am determined that we are mobilise our Unions once more to protect those that are most vulnerable.”

During the conference the 1,500 delegates mandated the Union with plethora of new policies that it must act upon during the forthcoming academic year. The further education zone committee proposed several polices which sanctioned stances on Ofsted, Student Governors, Offender Learning and called for the implementation of independent complaints and appeals procedure outside of internal institutional structures; similar to the OIA in Higher Education.

Delegates also debated the Union’s approach to the government’s White Paper on higher education reforms leading to a vote calling for the resignation of David Willets, the universities and science minister. The conference delegates also voted to hold a national demonstration against the government’s reforms in the first term of the 2012-13 academic year; a demonstration that is expected to involve thousands of FE students; in opposition to government cuts in education.

The NUS Annual Conference was held at Sheffield City Hall    Liam Burns was reelected as President of the NUS

Keep FE Free campaign launched by NUS

On the first day of its National Conference on Tuesday, NUS launched its latest FE campaign – Keep FE Free; its campaign against the introduction of fees and student loans for adults in further education in England.

The campaign launch featured as part of a fringe event during the conference discussing the government’s proposal of introducing a system of student loans; similar to tuition fee loans in HE. This introduction of loans is to offset the governments planned withdrawal of the current 50 per cent subsidy for level 3 qualifications for those over 24 years old.

The vice president of NUS, Toni Pearce opened the fringe by providing the room, of around 100 FE and HE students, with an introduction to the government’s proposals and why NUS believes the government should “halt progress on the introduction of fees for college students.”

Pearce went on to add that, “under the new regime, adults will face barriers to participation and progression, leaving them with limited education, training and employment opportunities.”

Following on from her opening of the fringe and launch of the campaign; Pearce was joined on the platform by Fiona Aldridge, head of work place learning at the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE). Alridge informed the delegates of NIACE’s undertaking of research into the impact the Government’s proposals would have and declared that they “were a high risk strategy.”

Aldridge explained that NIACE in principle supports the policy of learner contributions towards to the cost of their education; however warned that the impact of the current proposal is under-researched.

“We would support in principle that if you can contribute to the cost of your learning then adding private money to public money does increase the provision that can be offered. However, we do think that the demand for loans and the impact of loans is under-researched, that the policy is being implemented too quickly and there is a severe underestimate of the complexity.”

Following on from the remarks of both speakers, delegates were then invited to debate their views on the proposals and were encouraged to lobby their local MP’s. Delegates discussed and shared their own experiences from their Unions. The FE Zone Committee of the NUS has produced post cards with a clear message emblazoned requesting their MP to not support these proposals.

Pearce added: “This cut in funding will be hugely damaging to further education, normally a place where adults can get a second chance if they’ve been failed the first time around. How will adults re-train to find work in the current economic climate? How will they access higher level apprenticeships? And how will they afford Access to HE courses? I and my membership will campaign tirelessly against the implementation of these loans.”

Havering College students show fashion flair

The next generation of up-and-coming designers from Havering College of Further and Higher Education showcased their creations at a major catwalk event.

Five final year BA Fashion degree students from the college in Hornchurch, Essex, took their cutting edge collections to London’s Alternative Fashion Week.

Press photographers from across the globe descended on the six day event at Spitalfields Traders Market in East London.

The bi-annual show is regarded by the fashion industry as a hotbed for raw, undiscovered designer talent.

Havering College was chosen from hundreds of applications for one of 85 catwalk show slots.

Head of fashion Marie Loney said: “Alternative Fashion Week is a truly international event and we are very proud our BA Fashion degree students were given the opportunity to be a part of it.

“It gave the students a real buzz to see the fantastic reaction from the sea of photographers when the models stepped onto the catwalk wearing their designs.”

Gary Lineker gets behind Salford City College

Students from the Salford City College Sports Academy were recently invited to Old Trafford to meet England football hero Gary Lineker.

The BBC Match of the Day host was guest speaker at the Greater Manchester launch of Drive IQ – a programme to educate young people before they get behind the wheel, made up of ‘brain training modules’ that are often missed in traditional teaching methods.

Lineker said: “As a father with sons making their way out on the road, I want to be sure they’re as prepared as they can be, Drive IQ is a great starting point.”

Salford City College students were invited to participate in taster workshops which used the Drive IQ software. Student Jessica Martins said: “I think it’s a great idea to give young people more support before they begin driving; if it helps reduce the risk of accidents, it’s worth doing the programme.”

Sports development manager Phil Arbelo-Dolan said: “The students had a great time learning about the Drive IQ programme and were thrilled to meet one of their sporting heroes.”

What counts as being a successful college?

The 157 Group has been debating how it moves forward six years on from its inception. The sector context in 2012 is very different from 2006, not least with the new flexibilities and freedoms, the changing style of Ofsted, fiscal reductions and a new spirit of entrepreneurialism. A key question is how a successful college is defined and measured in this changing political, educational and policy environment.

As a Group, our recent focus has been on helping shape policy and influencing development of the sector, drawing on a powerful principal peer support group, a system of eleven peer networks and the added value of delivering focussed project activities. We believe that it is timely and important to articulate, a new, sophisticated and sector owned approach to determining what counts as a successful college in the current decade. We believe it must encompass Ofsted judgements, but go even further.

The capacity to maintain and improve the broad range of college provision and performance in changing contexts is key to any assessment of whether a college as a whole can be termed successful. The views of those who look at one aspect of a college’s work in depth such as Ofsted, the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and Skills Funding Agency are important, but a more holistic judgment can only be achieved through a process involving rigorous peer review.

The 157 Group, like other college groups, has initiated a peer review process among its members in a conscious attempt to ensure a sector owned/led approach to success and quality improvement that builds on but goes beyond external assessments.

The broader mission of an FE college, the various purposes it serves in a community, its economic mission and the extent to which the college as a whole can fulfil its stated purposes, now and in the future, must be the core basis for assessing its overall success.

It is not appropriate for colleges to be measured primarily from a schools, qualification and academic centric paradigm when our mission is to deliver a broad spectrum of services beyond qualifications and contribute to the broad spectrum of community, economic and social benefit.

External judgments on inspected provision made by bodies like Ofsted and QAA will be an important component of any such assessment. So too will external judgments of a college’s financial health, including auditors reports. However, since Ofsted reports are based on snapshot trends covering only a small fraction of a college’s work, their main value is in helping assess how far we can have confidence in a college’s own judgments.

It is good Ofsted is moving to focus consistently on determining the quality of teaching and learning, rather than reflecting more transient political agendas. In determining whether an institution is successful, increasing attention needs to be paid to other factors.
In a user-driven system the judgments of key users, for example, as reflected in surveys of student and employer satisfaction, will become increasingly central. Success rates are one important outcome but increasingly it is recognised that so too are student destinations. In the future a college’s success may need to be assessed in terms of preparing students to be entrepreneurial and enterprising – exercising initiative and innovation.

In addition, there are benefits a college needs to be able to demonstrate, such as impact on local business viability, a contribution to economic regeneration, increasing social cohesion and other aspects of engagement with the wider community. A successful college has to be both effective and inclusive. It is not sufficient to achieve high success rates by not engaging with the full range of potential clients or by being too selective.

Finally, to be truly successful, a college needs to be outward looking, working with and where necessary supporting other institutions as well as contributing to the wider process of policy formulation.

Lynne Sedgmore CBE, Executive Director,
157 Group

John Hayes on hand to unveil South Essex College’s £102 million plans for the future

A college’s plans for the future were unveiled during a visit by John Hayes, the minister of state for FE, skills and lifelong learning.

The Basildon Campus of South Essex College hosted Mr Hayes, along with local MPs, to listen to a briefing on the three new builds the college is planning to embark upon.

The projects see a new circa £30 million campus in Basildon in 2015, a £45 million campus in Thurrock in 2014, and a campus in Southend, where work has already started on a new £27 million state-of-the-art library and learning facility for 2013. He also met students studying various motor vehicle based qualifications, including apprentices in light vehicle maintenance and repair and IMI Level 2 motor vehicle maintenance and repair of light vehicles.

Acting principal John Hayles said: “The Minister was impressed about the progress we are making in raising aspirations and results across the region.

“He was also great advocate that positive buildings make for a great place for learning, which is very much our vision.”

Gemma Knott, policy and communications officer, 157 Group

“The worst thing that could happen to me is for someone to say that I didn’t try hard enough,” says Gemma Knott, the 157 Group’s policy and communications officer.

A self-confessed “geek,” she loved reading and writing from an early age and excelled academically. But there were few role models on Northfields estate in Leicester where she grew up.

“There were low aspirations, a lot of people living on benefits and struggling with money, and once you’re on an estate like that, it can become a vicious cycle; you don’t broaden your horizons and it gets harder to escape.”

While her own ambition, and her parents’ support, undoubtedly had a role to play in her educational success, Knott says she also benefited from the Aim Higher scheme, an initiative developed under the last Labour government, which aimed to encourage young people from deprived areas to consider higher education.

This gave her the opportunity to go to open days and summer schools at various universities – including Oxford, where she was later selected for interview. Although she learned a lot from the process, it was a “very daunting experience,” she says.

“I am an ambitious person, but I still felt like I stuck out like a sore thumb at the interviews.

“Talking to the other applicants – and this might sound judgmental – they did sound like they were born with silver spoons in their mouths; they weren’t just comparing grades, they were comparing 100 per cent scores. There was a very competitive edge to everything.”

While her Oxford application was unsuccessful, Knott was offered a place to study history at Warwick University. And while her parents – a forklift truck operator and an administrative clerk – were supportive of her aspirations, they did worry about her getting into debt.

I have to pinch myself sometimes with the people I get to talk to”

“No one in my family had ever been to university – not many of them even own their own houses – and in that kind of culture there is a fear factor about owing money,” she says.

Among the first cohort of students to see tuition fees rise from £1,000-a-year to more than £3,000-a-year, Knott says she can empathise with prospective students (who, from September, will have to pay up to £9,000-a-year) who are fearful of debt. “When you’re from that kind of background, you don’t want to spend any more than you earn.”

Determined not to be a financial burden on her parents, from the age of 16, Knott held down numerous part-time jobs, including several stints as a tour guide at Buckingham Palace. In the final year of her degree, she got up at five in the morning to do a cleaning job at the university.

“I think my housemates thought I was crazy, when they heard the front door closing at 5am,” she recalls. “I got the 2:1 I wanted but, when I look back, I wonder how I did it.”

While she admits she “could have slowed down at bit”, juggling education and part-time work stood her in good stead when it came to finding her first job, she says.

“I made so many friends, I networked and I earned my money and learned the value of a hard day’s work. When I worked in a call centre, I learned how to listen and all those other soft skills employers really want… it’s amazing how many people are clever and have qualifications that don’t have that.”

After graduation, Knott had set her sights on a career in law, but a short-term temping job – covering for the PA to the principal of Warwickshire College – changed everything.

I’m always looking for the next strategic challenge in FE and I have got so many ideas whirring around in my head”

“It was never my choice to go into the education world but once I started work at Warwickshire College, I loved it,” she says. “I saw how hard-working and how innovative FE staff are, and I loved the buzz and the atmosphere at the college and how forward-thinking it was.”

Landing her current job at the 157 Group – less than a year after graduating – is the best thing that has ever happened to her, she says.

While there is no “typical week,” her job can involve anything from writing press releases and policy briefings to having tea at Number 10.

“I have to pinch myself sometimes with the people I get to talk to, but at the same time I have to keep myself grounded because I have to bear in mind it is all about the learners,” she says.

“You can’t get carried away, having tea and wining and dining in the House of Lords, because you have to remember you are there primarily for the learners and the agenda of the membership.”

Knott admits she is her “own worst enemy” when it comes to workload and is so full of ideas, she sometimes ends up working around the clock to get things done.

“I have so many ideas and I guess I have an advantage with my age and not being out of university that long, which means I can empathise with learners and what their problems are.

“It is a busy role, but I do make time for other things as well.”

Whatever role I do, for me it will just be a blessing to stay in the sector”

After taking up running just a year ago, Knott recently completely the Paris Marathon, raising £800 for the Stroke Association and is already considering training again for another long-distance run in the future.

At 23, she is relaxed about her future career plans, although she would like to remain involved with the FE sector. What continues to drive her is her aspiration for all young people to have the chance to fulfil their potential, she says.

“I like the policy and communication side of things, but whatever role I do, for me it will just be a blessing to stay in the sector. I’m always looking for the next strategic challenge in FE and I have got so many ideas whirring around in my head – as long as I am in the sector I will be really happy. I guess it all comes back to what education has done for me; I want to make sure that all learners have access to the same kinds of opportunities.”

But she “would be lying” if she said didn’t ever feel she was taken less seriously by colleagues in the sector because of her age. “I have often felt that when I walk into a room of one of these national groups ‘Hmm, she’s a bit of a whippersnapper,’ but in a way that’s my own insecurity and I think people judge you on your outcomes.

I hope that I have now gained a voice at the table and that my age is no longer a reflection of my abilities.”

FE should learn ‘employment truths’ from welfare-to-work

The relationship between further education, the world of work, and local economic development is at a crossroads. With over one million young people unemployed for the first time, FE colleges are now in a unique position to revolutionise how they support learners’ migration from training into gainful employment.

The Wolf Review suggested we shift the focus from “the accrual of qualifications” to “employment outcomes” and this is the clear direction of travel for government. New funding streams have been opened up for colleges that train jobseekers, and colleges will begin experiencing funding outcomes related to a progression into employment. Additionally, the increase in apprenticeships and other incentives in the Youth Contract to boost youth employability all point to the pivotal role colleges must play in reversing the youth unemployment trend.

As FE principals consider the new role their institutions will play in getting young Britons working, there are three “employment truths” FE can borrow from the welfare-to-work sector that will boost employability outcomes and put their college on the front foot in tackling youth unemployment.

Qualifications matter much less than attitude
Our research into the value of vocational skills and apprenticeships found employers and young people recognise that securing meaningful work in today’s economy requires training beyond earned qualifications, namely an increased focus on employability or “soft skills”.

Communication skills, organisational skills, time keeping, team work and motivation are ranked as more important than qualifications achieved by the young people and employers we interviewed. FE colleges are well placed to incorporate these softer skills into the student experience. Learners must leave FE with not only work-ready qualifications but armed with a work-ready attitude.

Local economic growth relies on specific skill development
When an employer plans to invest in new manufacturing or distribution facilities, there is a long-term vision, looking at the likely labour market skills to support the business not in 2012 but in 2015, 2020 and beyond. FE institutions should also take a similar long-term approach when developing and marketing their course offering.

This requires better access to labour market intelligence, something colleges can achieve through more collaboration with their Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) or Chamber of Commerce. Colleges that trade in popular, but low need vocational skills (for instance media or hairdressing courses) for less well-known, but potentially more sought after skills (like process engineering and green construction) demanded by local entrepreneurship, will produce graduates with the training and qualifications that will help them secure sustainable employment.

Matchmaking and networking are critical to recruitment success
Mentors and professional role models build young people’s confidence, passion and experience, all critical factors for securing work in the current jobs market. Equally, local employers, with limited resources to recruit, benefit from access to a pool of skilled, passionate young employees. Working with LEPs or Chambers of Commerce, colleges can align local business services to effectively join up an “employer offer”.

Existing digitally or through traditional jobs boards and networking, colleges must increase employers’ engagement with learners before the official job search begins. Learners can build employability skills through industry master classes and mentoring schemes that give them access to successful local individuals and SMEs.

Colleges needn’t go it alone when it comes to placing employability at the heart of their student support. Collaborating with one another and working in partnership with organisations that have strong track records in addressing employability needs and securing job outcomes will provide FE learners with the additional career support necessary to secure a foot on the job ladder in a challenging labour market.

Whether through an outsourced or tailored model, colleges that set employment-outcomes at the heart of their operations will not only empower young people to build lasting careers, but prove their contribution to a competitive labour market ready to compete in the global economy of the 21st century.

Mike Lee, Head of Skills and Young People, Working Links

Shaping apprenticeships the Australian Group Training way

Before we look at shaping the future, I’d firstly like to look at the past by sharing some history behind the Australian Group Training model. Group Training in the Australian landscape involves organisations legally employing apprentices across many occupational sectors and, in turn, placing them with a host employer. The Group Training Company essentially manages all the associated paperwork, payroll, taxation requirements, effectively cutting bureaucracy out of the employment of an apprentice.

Group Training evolved in the early 1980’s when industry leaders in the construction and automotive sector developed industry groups to drive this unique and flexible apprenticeship employment model for their sector. The concept was largely developed in response to the needs of small businesses when these individuals found staffing difficult given the unpredictable nature of their operations and work patterns.

By 1990 there were close to 90 Group Training companies employing around 11,000 apprentices. Today in Australia, there is more than 180 Group Training Companies legally employing in excess of 50,000 apprentices, making the Group Training network the single largest employer of apprentices.

In England, this Group Training concept is known as an Apprenticeship Training Agency or ATA. The full capacity of the model is yet to be demonstrated in England having only been piloted since 2009. It must be understood that this agency model is a business that grows very organically as it seeds apprentice commencements, but should not be underestimated as for the opportunity it presents to small businesses that traditionally haven’t employed an apprentice. Another major function of the agency model which should not be overlooked is the structured support to apprentice learners.

Apprentices employed through the agency model have the ability to be placed with multiple host employers during their apprenticeship, which enhances learning experience and develops deeper applied knowledge and skills. If we explore completion rates of an agency employed apprentices in Australia, typically we find successful completion rates are quite higher than traditionally direct employed apprentices. This is due to the quality structured recruitment process that agencies and Group Training provide, particularly for the small business sector that have limited resources and are unfamiliar with recruitment procedures.

The other key element that supports successful completion rates for agency employed apprentices is the solid pastoral care framework that apprentices and host employers receive. The Apprenticeship Training Agency is effectively an impartial third party that monitors the workplace performance of the apprentice, host employer and training provider or college attached to the relationship.

Smaller businesses in England that we currently work with have embraced the employment model, seeing it as the way to assist with the procurement of an apprentice and reducing the associated burdens that are perceived with apprenticeships.

Although there are similarities between England and Australia’s employment and apprenticeship systems, there are naturally many variations. The Australian apprenticeship programme is heavily subsidised by Government, providing employers and Group Training Companies with incentives; in addition to funding associated training costs. Government incentives can assist in reducing some wage associated costs, including training downtime for employers and, if applied in an ethical manner, can reward good employer behaviour.

In light of recent media coverage on quality of apprenticeships we feel confident the agency model can, and will, provide a long-term solid structured safety net to all stakeholders. If we revisit the Australian Group Training model, many organisations are required to operate with eight National Standards for Group Training Organisations, which essentially underpins the operation and are audited by Government State or Territory Training Authorities (STAs). STA’s are responsible for compliance, audit evaluation, including an independent audit program to ensure compliance with the National Standards for Group Training Organisations.

We are optimistic as to the future of apprenticeship training agencies in England and strongly feel that, as the model matures, it will demonstrate success for all parties; apprentices, host employers and local communities.

Ashley Langdon, Chief Executive Officer,
IMPACT Apprenticeships

College redundancies and restructures

Staff from Gateshead College protest over pay cuts and increased working hours.

As the economic downturn continues to put pressure on the sector, staff at FE colleges up and down the country are increasingly facing the prospect of redundancy.

In the last few weeks, a wave of institutions have revealed plans for potential redundancies in a bid to cut costs following the loss of government income; some colleges have been hit by up to 12 per cent.

But as figures revealed last week show the country slipping into a “double-dip” recession, the threat, according to the University and College Union (UCU), is showing little sign of letting go any time soon.

Barry Lovejoy, national head of further education at the UCU, said that around 50 colleges are undergoing consultations on possible job cuts, affecting potentially 500 jobs, as well as changes in work conditions.

Some changes, he says, include “how far a teacher can progress” and their pay scales being reduced to slash wage bills.

He also added: “I would anticipate that over the next couple of weeks that it will increase to other colleges.”

However, Mr Lovejoy is “unsurprised” by the news. He said: “Colleges didn’t get their final allocations until the Easter period which shows up where they are in cash terms.

“The big picture, as I understand it, is that there’s around a seven to 12 per cent cut in terms of loss of income to colleges.

“It does vary. The amount will vary on a college’s historical position and on where its main focus of work is, adult or under 19, and there’ll be different combinations of that.

“Plus, another impact is the removal of the education maintenance allowance as that has had an impact on student numbers, which has a knock on effect on whether they can get the numbers they required.”

Just days before the start of the Easter break, Sunderland College announced it intends to make 36 people redundant as part of a bid to save £2.26 million in 2012/13.

The cuts have also led the college to review job descriptions for all teaching staff with a proposal to put in place a number of pay bands, with a formal consultation already underway.

Angela O’Donoghue, principal of Sunderland College, said: “Due to government funding cuts, we have been required to undertake a review of our staff job descriptions and department structures to ensure that we can continue to deliver excellent education for our students.

“This extensive work has concluded the need to change both. Regrettably the impact of these cuts has meant the changes we need to implement will lead to 36 redundancies.”

However, they insist that the level of service to students and customers will not change.

The principal added: “The college’s vision has always remained the same despite the tough times in which we operate.”

Although no job cuts or redundancies have been announced at Gateshead College, plans have been shared with teaching staff to “transform the way they deliver the curriculum, to improve students’ experience and ultimately their job prospects”.

However, the move has led to industrial action by UCU members, who staged a demonstration two weeks ago outside the college, after claiming the college intends to cut teachers’ pay and increase working hours.

Richard Thorold, principal and chief executive of Gateshead College said: “The proposal involves the introduction of a new staffing structure for the teaching workforce.

“It does not involve any compulsory redundancies and there will be job opportunities for everyone affected.

“If we are to address the issues of youth unemployment and help stimulate the growth of our regional economy, we need to ensure that people leave our college with qualifications but also with a unique set of skills that make them highly employable, effective in the workplace, or in creating their own start-up businesses.

“Developing and implementing new and innovative curriculum models and skills sets is vital if we are to achieve this.”

Peterborough Regional College has begun a consultation over plans to introduce management and organisational changes in the area of Curriculum and Quality.

The plan could affect around 60 staff in management, support and administrative posts at the college.

The big picture, as I understand it, is that there’s around a seven to 12 per cent cut in terms of loss of income to colleges”

A college spokeswomen said: “Many staff will simply transfer into very similar roles in our new structure; a number will need to apply for the new jobs we are creating that replace a larger number of existing roles.

“As we consult staff we hope to ensure the numbers of jobs lost overall will be small and we will seek to make changes through voluntary methods where possible.”

Budget savings from the plans could equate to approximately £240,000, with some of the savings being “reinvested into teaching hours”.

More significant, say the college, will be improvements to the service they provide as a result of the changes.

Angela Joyce, principal and chief executive at the college, said: “We would not be making these changes unless we thought them to be essential.

“The changes will ensure we can meet the enormous challenges faced by all FE colleges and continue to meet the needs of our students and employers in the years to come.”

Meanwhile, at the start of April, it was revealed by Chesterfield College that they “estimate 80 redundancies” across the institution.

Acting principal Trevor Clay said: “Chesterfield College has to act now in order to future proof the great service we provide to thousands of learners, employers and communities each year by bringing our costs in line with the funding we receive and the income we can generate.”

He added: “Our excellent track record of recruiting and delivering high quality education and training has, until now, enabled us to avoid the need for regular restructuring that many other colleges undertake.

“Currently 70 per cent of our expenditure is made up of staff costs and whilst every effort will be made to reduce non staff costs and wherever possible grow income it is, we regret, inevitable that posts at the College will be lost.

“Our estimate is that 80 redundancies, spread across all areas of the college, are required and it is hoped to reach this figure by staff electing for voluntary redundancy.”

The news from the college has been met with dismay by the UCU, who are balloting their members over the plans.

However, a consultation on similar proposals made by the College of West Anglia (CWA), which could result in net job losses of up to 19 staff, is due to close next week.

The college needs to make efficiency savings of £1.6m in 2012-13 to address reduced government funding and enable it to fund major building projects in King’s Lynn and Wisbech.

The proposals announced are designed to make savings of £400,000 in staffing costs and £1.2m in non-pay costs. The college employs around 800 staff and the posts which could be lost mainly affect non-teaching staff based in King’s Lynn.

The proposals include the closure of residential accommodation for learners with learning difficulties and disabilities at Plaxtole House in King’s Lynn and the closure of the Pulse8 fitness centre.

Principal David Pomfret said: “We are in the middle of a well-publicised period of public sector funding cuts which is affecting colleges across the country.

“CWA is also undertaking major redevelopment with new technology centres in King’s Lynn and Wisbech and a major refurbishment of the nine-storey tower block in King’s Lynn. We need to make budget savings of £1.6m in the coming year and, although we are planning to deliver the major part through reductions in non-pay budgets, we also need to take tough decisions which inevitably affect jobs.”

Elsewhere, Stockton Riverside College is facing a £1.3 million cut in government funding for the next academic year.

A consultation is underway which could see 25 posts affected by measures including voluntary redundancy.

Dr Sujinder Sangha OBE, the college’s principal, said: “This is compounded by a rise in National Insurance and pension costs, which means we expect to have £1.5m less to spend next year. Colleges across the UK and locally are facing a similar situation.

“As a direct result of this, we expect around 25 teaching and support posts to be affected. This does not equate to 25 people losing their jobs. We have met with staff as soon as we were aware of the scale of the cuts, so they were as prepared as possible. Some have expressed an interest in voluntary redundancy, reduced hours or job share options.”

He added: “Our main focus at the moment is on supporting staff and also seeking ways of minimising the impact of these cuts on students, so their studies will not be affected.”

Karen Sutcliffe, the college’s UCU branch chair, said: “We are disappointed that government funding cuts are resulting in more job losses at the college.

“We are having regular meetings with senior management to minimise the effect on staff as far as possible.”