Senior leaders concerned about college finances

A survey has revealed a high proportion of senior leaders are concerned about the college finances.

Conducted by Capita’s further and higher education business last month, it found that 87 per cent of 36 principals and vice-principals questioned are concerned about the short to medium-term financial viability of their college.

It was undertaken for the launch of their white paper, The Vice Principal’s Guide to Efficiency: How Technology Can Help Cut Costs for FE Colleges, which reveals where up to £2 million of savings can be made in further education (FE) colleges.

The white paper looks at the role of using management information and data to improve efficiency in various areas.

Detailed areas where colleges might be able to make savings or increase income, include £1 million saved from improved student management, £750,000 saved from using staff and facilities to their maximum efficiency, £500,000 gained by maximising income and £25,000 saved from streamlining management and administration.

There are also potential savings to be made from shared services and introducing new business models.

The survey revealed that colleges already recognise that savings can be made by making better use of staff and facilities, with more than half  (52 per cent) believing this has the greatest potential for reducing costs in their organisation.

This was followed by administrative processes (23 per cent)and new business models (16 per cent) such as mergers and shared services. In fact, 61 per cent of those questioned were already actively investigating the possibility of shared services.

George Layfield, UK sales manager of the firm, said: “Each student drop-out can represent between £5,000 and £10,000 of lost funding and recruitment costs yet, despite this, some rates remain as high as 20 per cent.”

John O’Callaghan, assistant director of information services at Hackney Community College, added: “There can be practical hurdles to overcome for leadership teams to make the most of the data collected on the management of their college, and it can be a challenge to foster a positive culture of data ownership.

“However, it’s worth persevering as data provides the only way to get true picture of how efficiently your college is running and if improvements can be made.”

When it comes to quantifying the reductions colleges need to make for 2012/13, the survey revealed that 61 per cent estimate they will need make savings of up to 10 per cent off overall college budget, 19 per cent believe it will be between 10-20 per cent and 13 per cent will be looking to make 20 to 40 per cent savings.

Mr Layfield added: “The survey reflects colleges’ on-going concerns over budgets and the need to make savings while protecting the student experience.

“The white paper sets out how relatively straightforward strategic changes such as increasing class size and having easily accessible, accurate date can have a huge impact on the bottom line without having a negative impact on learning.”

Catwalk collection at Newham College

A new exhibition at Newham College’s museum gives the public a behind-the-scenes snap-shot into working on fashion shows.

The exhibition, Catwalk to Cover, is at the Fashion and Textile Museum, in Bermondsey Street, near London Bridge, until February 25.

More than 100 photographs by Britain’s leading catwalk photographers and clothes from leading fashion houses reveal the creativity and chaos at the heart of the fashion show.

Highlights include key moments from the shows of Chanel, Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs.

Celebrities also make appearances including Scarlet Johansson and Florence Welch.

Head of the museum Celia Joicey said: “The work of catwalk photographers provides a fascinating cross-spectrum of creative, innovative and British approaches to documenting the world’s most celebrated shows.”

CAMS achieves ACCA Gold Status

The College of Accountancy of Management Studies (CAMS) has been confirmed an ACCA Gold Approved Learning Partner for student tuition. Approvals are granted only to high-quality tuition providers that ACCA is confident to recommend to students. This is in addition to CAMS being a licensed ACCA computer-based-exam (CBE) centre.

In order to be granted Gold status the college had to fulfill a set of rigorous criteria set by ACCA.

These were designed to demonstrate that CAMS meets the challenging performance targets, representing global best practice in the provision of ACCA course tuition, delivery, management and support.

Ruth Jenkins, CAMS ACCA Course Leader and tutor said: “We look forward to working closely with ACCA and helping more and more students to achieve their career ambitions.”

Campaign for accessible colleges launched

The National Union of Students (NUS) has teamed up with the The Changing Places campaign to make college campuses more accessible.  

The NUS has launched its Access Challenge campaign, which is aimed at improving the access to university and college campuses. As part of this campaign, NUS will be campaigning for Changing Places toilets to be installed on campuses.

The addition of a Changing Places toilet will help them become more accessible for people who visit with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD), but also for many other students with severe disabilities who need support to access further education.

The toilet has extra features including a a height adjustable adult-sized changing bench, a tracking hoist and more space to allow people with PMLD and other people with severe disabilities, the chance to use toilets in a comfortable and clean environment.

The Changing Places campaign is run by the Changing Places Consortium, and sponsored by Total Hygiene, a disabled toileting solutions provider.

Rupy Kaur, NUS Disabled Students’ Officer, said: “We took the decision to partner with the Changing Places campaign as we are committed to improving the accessibility of all UKcampuses.

“We hope that through the Access Challenge we will show student unions the importance of making campuses fully accessible and therefore getting Changing Places toilets installed on as many of them as possible.”

NUS will now campaign for student unions to sign up to the Access Challenge and urge them to install a Changing Places toilet on their campuses.

Lorretto Lambe, co-chair of the Changing Places Consortium, said: “We are very pleased to have NUS on board with the Changing Places campaign so we can ensure there are appropriate facilities for all students and university visitors to use the toilet.

“This latest partnership for the Changing Places campaign is a fantastic step to making college campuses fully accessible.”

App-ortunity for Priestley College students

Talented designers were given a unique opportunity to taste industry life after teaming up with a creative agency.

The teenage Graphic Design students at Priestley College have been tackling a subject close to most of their hearts after being set the challenge of developing a number of assets for use in an “app” that will play on a popular range of Apple products.

Peter Caddock, from Studio Liddell, set the students cracking on the task in hand instructing them to research, plan, design and develop such assets connected with the theme of popular nursery rhymes.

Paul McConnell, assistant curriculum manager for Art and Design, said: “It is always pleasing for our students to work with industry experts and we have long been very grateful for the support and guidance offered by Studio Liddell.”

Prime Minister bowled over by kindness of charitable Myerscough College student

College student Callum Flynn met Prime Minister David Cameron after being named Britain’s Kindest Kid.

The Myerscough College student topped a public vote in the national TV competition run by the Charities Aid Foundation and 5 News.

Callum (16), from Leigh, in Lancashire, received the news of his win during a surprise presentation at Myerscough College.

He was presented with the Kindest Kid trophy to recognise his achievement and won £1,000 and £1,000 to give to a charity of his choice.

Callum has decided to award the prize money to the Bone Cancer Research Trust (BCRT), the charity he has campaigned for over the past two years. Since beating bone cancer at the age of 14, Callum has raised nearly £15,000 for BCRT.

A talented cricketer from an early age, Callum underwent aggressive knee replacement surgery to remove the bone cancer from his right leg.

Fearing he would not walk again, Callum’s dream of playing cricket at a professional level was all but over. Now, two years on, Callum plays cricket with a titanium knee, and received a historic call up to play for the England Physical Disability Cricket Team.

He said: “I still can’t believe I’ve won. Hopefully by winning this award, it will help raise more awareness of the charity’s work and about this rare form of the disease.”

“I want to thank everyone who took the time to vote for me and for supporting me over the past weeks.”

City of Bath College students in business

Three IT students from City of Bath College have designed a website for a new high profile city-based business organisation.

The talented trio designed and built the website from scratch after being approached by the newly formed Bath and North East Somerset Entrepreneurs’ Club. Ben Sanger-Davies, Tristan Welch and Toby Barrett are studying a Foundation Degree in Computing.

Tristan (21), from Bath, said: “It’s been challenging but we’ve enjoyed it and are now looking forward to seeing the website go live.”

Toby (20), from Tetbury, added: “It’s given us the real world experience of working with clients and the demands of taking on such a big project.”

Angela Ladd, chair of Bath Small Business Focus, said: “We are absolutely delighted that the three students were willing to undertake our project and demonstrate their outstanding skills to the business community.”

Lord-Lieutenant Dame Mary Fagan opens new library at Barton Peveril College

The Lord-Lieutenant of Hampshire, Dame Mary Fagan, spent an afternoon in the company of sixth form students when she officially opened a library.

The Glyn Library at Barton Peveril College, in Eastleigh, accommodates 255 students and has twice as many PCs as the former building. Since it opened at the start of the academic year, student usage is up 69 per cent on the same period in 2010.

After touring the college in the company of student ambassadors Emma Gamblin and Sam Saunders, Dame Mary unveiled a plaque commemorating her visit and naming the library in honour of Godfrey Glyn OBE, principal at Barton Peveril from 1996 to 2008.

Congratulating the college on its good financial housekeeping and new facilities, Dame Mary said: “Education is a partnership between teachers, students, governors and parents and when that is working right then everything is a great success.

“I am incredibly impressed by what I have seen here today. Education is something that can never be taken away from people…it is so very important.”

The entire library refurbishment project, which cost just under £500,000, was financed from college reserves without government grants. The original library was built in the 1990s with funds from Hampshire County Council.

Principal Jonathan Prest said: “Barton Peveril is a distinctive environment where modern buildings reflect a modern outlook.

“The Glyn Library has a fundamental role to play in helping students learn how to study independently and I’m delighted Dame Mary has seen it in action.”

Students at Chesterfield College learn to buckle up with graphic road safety display

Students were shown the harsh realities of the roads in a hard hitting safety campaign.

Chesterfield College bore witness to the dramatic events as part of the Dying2Drive campaign, co-ordinated by the Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service.

The college’s own Uniformed Public Services students also played a part in the event, marshalling the ‘collision’ so crowds were kept at a safe distance, making sure the emergency services had full access to the scene and even playing the part of the casualties.

The event’s aim was to raise awareness in young drivers of the results of not wearing a seatbelt, dangerous driving, modifying vehicles and drunk driving.

Community safety officer Victoria Sparkes said: “At that age no-one thinks that it will happen to them. Our workshop works with young people and helps them to understand why certain behaviours and actions are dangerous to them and others.”