A Manchester sixth form college has become the sector’s latest cyber-attack victim, after criminals hacked a teacher’s email to say it would be attacked by Israel.

This was included in a series of messages to learners at Loreto College received late last night and early this morning, according to the Manchester Evening News.

The hackers wrote the college would be closed today due to a gas leak and later followed that up with an email claiming Adolf Hitler would be visiting.

The email read: “Hi students, in the upcoming week we will be receiving a visit from the man himself, Hitler.

“This is why we emailed as a gas leak, as we are unsure of his mental status, as a precaution. Please bring a gas mask in, just in case he tried anything dodgy, thank you. Sincerely, Blue Power Ranger.”

Another message said because of a visit to the college from Palestinian representatives, Israel had designated the Roman Catholic institution “part of a terrorist premises” and “an attack is imminent”.

The college has since released a statement saying: “The college is aware that overnight, emails have been sent to students from a currently unknown source.

“We are working with the police and college network team to identify the source and address the situation.

“We apologise for any distress or upset this may have caused. Please be reassured that we are taking this situation very seriously. College is open as normal.”

Greater Manchester Police has been contacted for comment.

This is the latest in a string of cyber-crimes committed against colleges: In September, criminals accessed the details of students and staff of Swindon College; which led to the college’s website and phone going offline.

That same month, South Staffordshire College’s IT system was successfully targeted by an “ethical hacker” who sent out internal emails which had allegedly been doctored to include a racist word.

Fraudsters hacked into the email of Lakes College principal Chris Nattress to try and trick people into transferring money, in what is known as a phishing scam.

The problem became so bad the ESFA put out cybercrime advice in August telling providers to employ firewalls, data back-ups and to train staff in verifying email senders to protect themselves against cyber-attacks.

A member of the National Cyber Security Centre wrote in FE Week that “devastating” cybercrimes could be rendered less likely to succeed if providers lead from the top, support technical teams, and test their preparedness for a cyber incident.

The Conservatives have announced plans to put £1.8 billion into capital investment for further education colleges.

In a speech in Coventry, party leader Boris Johnson said the rebuild programme would be part of a “skills revolution” and be introduced over a five-year period.

“Colleges are a vital part of our education system, it’s not just about university, it’s about giving kids across our country the skills they need,” he added.

A spokesperson from the Conservative Party said the “huge investment programme will make sure the entire further education college estate is at least Category B (‘good’) condition”.

They added that colleges will have to match the funding with 21 per cent – so for every £1 invested by the government, “we are expecting an average 21p college contribution”.

“FE colleges will have to work up robust plans to make sure the money is spent wisely,” the spokesperson said.

The commitment comes after Philip Augar recommended in his post-18 education review that colleges should be given a £1 billion capital investment over the coming spending review period.

Johnson, during his campaign for the Conservative leadership, promised to “do more to fund our amazing FE colleges”.

And once he became Prime Minister, he said it was “vital” the government invests “now” in further education and skills, and he promised to make this a “priority”.

Chief executive of the Association of Colleges, David Hughes, said: “He was clear on his first day in office as Prime Minister that colleges are vital to our nation, and today he has backed that with a pledge to offer long overdue investment in their buildings and facilities.”

He added that this will come as “great news” for the 2.2 million people who study and train in colleges every year and “who deserve the best facilities”.

Johnson also pledged today to ensure that a new Shared Prosperity Fund will start in time to replace European Social Funding in 2021.

Hughes said he was “pleased” about this as the “EU funds have been effective in helping adults access the skills training they need to find work, and colleges have been central to delivering that”.

“A simpler, easy to access fund would be good news for colleges and for the adults they serve,” he added.

A principal at the centre of a college expenses scandal has been suspended, FE Week can reveal.

Stella Mbubaegbu is no longer running Highbury College following intervention from the FE Commissioner this week, who has now moved the college into “supervised college status”.

The college’s chair, Tim Mason, is also set to step down and be replaced by a National Leader of Governance.

The commissioner was sent into Highbury by Department for Education minister Lord Agnew after FE Week revealed the principal claimed £150,000 expenses in four years.

The spending included numerous first class flights, five-star hotels, travel in luxury cars, a £350 bill – including a £45 lobster and nearly £100 on cocktails – at a Michelin star restaurant, and a £434 pair of designer headphones.

Mbubaegbu last month announced her intention to retire from Highbury in the summer next year.

A spokesperson was keen to stress that Mbubaegbu officially “remains chief executive and principal of Highbury College” but said it would be “inappropriate to comment on an individual’s status” when asked about her suspension.

In a separate statement, Mason said the commissioner has “indicated” that he will support the college to “strengthen our leadership and governance”.

He will be arranging for a National Governance Leader to chair the board “during this period of supervision”.

“I have agreed to step aside and I welcome this intervention for the good of the college, staff and students,” Mason added.

“I would like to reassure all staff that the FE Commissioner, the board and the college leadership team are committed to providing a stable environment for our students and staff. I would also like to take this opportunity to personally thank you for your continued support.”

A National College due to dissolve in the new year has just 24 classroom students – its first-ever Ofsted report has revealed.

National College for the Creative and Cultural Industries (NCCI) had previously told FE Week it was confident it could attract 450 learners this year, before last year having to take a £600,000 bailout from the Department for Education to stay afloat.

Now inspectors have rated the once vaunted flagship institution as grade three for its provision to the 24 learners and 81 apprentices.

A college spokesperson claimed “many more” apprentices were due to start in the coming weeks; while an intake of level 4 classroom-based learners is planned for later in the year. They did not say how large these intakes would be.

Ofsted’s report criticises NCCI’s leaders for “not ensuring all learning coaches have the skills and knowledge to coach apprentices to develop the skills they need”.

In fact, a significant minority of coaches “do not provide good quality learning”: they do not ensure apprentices know what they have done well and what they need to do to improve, or that employers know how to help their employees link theory with workplace learning.

Leaders have not ensured learners and apprentices can move on up to higher levels to further their career; so, learners on a level 4 professional diploma have no direct route to a relevant level 5 programme.

And while the report commends governors for their relevant expertise and for challenging the leadership well, inspectors wrote: “They do always ensure the actions undertaken improves the quality of apprenticeship provision quickly enough”.

However, Ofsted rated some areas of the college as ‘good’, including the quality of education, where leaders and managers make sure apprentices and learners “significantly improve” their technical skills and develop a good knowledge of health and safety in their workplaces.

Learners came in for particular praise, with inspectors noting they are “keen to learn and have a desire to produce work to their very best ability”.

NCCI interim principal Sue Dare said she was “pleased” Ofsted highlighted those areas NCCI “does really well: the development of good technical skills and knowledge for careers in the creative industries; excellent industry links and networking opportunities; and a strong focus on career progression in to the creative sector”.

But she recognised the inconsistencies identified by inspectors and said the college has established “more robust processes” to ensure these are addressed in the future.

The report is NCCI’s first and is likely its last, as it is planning to move away from teaching by dissolving in January and setting up as a limited company to license apprenticeship provision to Access Creative College and both classroom learning and the running of its production and rehearsal venue to South Essex College.

A final decision on the proposal is due to be taken by the college’s board in December with the decision being made public later than month.

On top of the £600,000 bailout, NCCI has also benefited from a £1.25 million working capital loan from the DfE; £745,000 of which was paid out during 2017-18, with the remaining £505,000 being drawn down in 2018-19.

NCCI had an income of £1.3 million overall in 2017/18.

Only one other National College has had an Ofsted report published: Ada National College for Digital Skills, which scored a grade two.

The National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure is listed on the website but has not had a report published.

The college is currently undergoing a rebrand from the National College for High Speed Rail, after it needed a £4.55 million bailout from the DfE to sign off its 2017/18 accounts.

The DfE, which has sunk £80 million into the colleges, launched an evaluation of the scheme late last year.

The well-known leader of a high-profile college has announced his intention to retire after more than 11 years at the helm.

Lowell Williams (pictured), one of the government’s national leaders of further education, will step down from his role as chief executive of Dudley College of Technology in January to “follow new opportunities”.

He will be replaced by the college’s current principal, Neil Thomas.

Dudley College was rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted in March 2017 under Williams’ leadership, and secured government backing to create one of the first 12 Institutes of Technology earlier this year.

He will be retained as a strategic advisor to the college’s corporation through to Easter 2020, to help oversee the transition, and said today it has been “such a privilege to work here”.

“I will never forget my time at the college,” he added.

Williams told FE Week he is “not one for the golf course as such” and will continue his roles as chair of trustees of Dudley Academies Trust and chair of the Black Country Living Museum in retirement.

He will also be taking up a position as non-executive director of the Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, and may “continue doing collaborative work with the west midland colleges”.

The 57-year-old is an FE veteran having worked in the sector for over 30 years. Prior to joining Dudley, he was curriculum manager at Northampton College before becoming deputy principal of Stephenson College and then principal of South Leicestershire College.

He joined Dudley as its leader in 2008. His only notable hiccup came earlier this year when he apologised after an audit exposed data errors that resulted in more than £500,000 being paid back to the government.

He later called for all colleges to receive greater support in navigating the government’s increasingly complex and high-stake audit system.

Reflecting on his time in college leadership, Williams told FE Week: “When I first became a principal nearly 20 years ago there was the opportunity to learn on the job but you were not in nearly as heightened and pressurised environment that we’re in now.

“You had less complexity in an environment of more support. When things didn’t go right immediately you had a chance to develop into the role. The role for new principals now, particularly if they’re not experienced or don’t have support networks around them, is really quite difficult and dangerous.

“You now answer to so many people on so many fronts that it is becoming increasingly difficult for people to get everything right all the time.”

Asked what advice he would give to new college principals, Williams said: “My one overriding advice is don’t think you’ve got all the answers. Reach out to every single network you can for support.

“Don’t put yourself in isolation – it’s fine to talk to the college down the road, it’s fine to share your anxieties and problems.”

Following Williams’ departure, Dudley College said it will be appointing a chief operating officer to work alongside and deputise for Thomas, as well as a new vice principal.

“I am absolutely delighted the corporation has decided to appoint Neil as my successor,” Williams said.

“He is very definitely the right person for the job. I have every confidence that he will lead the college from strength to strength.”

He added: “The further education sector continues to be an extremely challenging arena in which to work, but Neil has proven over the years that he has the resilience, skills and ability to deliver successful outcomes for our learners.

“It’s great that a local Dudley boy gets the chance to run this amazing college and to serve his local community.”

Thomas said he was “delighted” to be taking up the reins at a college he has worked at for over 10 years and “which I love and feel so passionate about”.

Labour’s commitment to fully funding beginner and “second-chance” short adult education courses has been questioned, after the political party left it out of their lifelong learning announcements.

In a speech in Blackpool tomorrow, shadow education secretary Angela Rayner will commit to enabling any adult without an A-level or equivalent level 3 qualification to attend college and study for them for free.

She will also announce that a Labour government would scrap university tuition fees and give every adult a free entitlement to six years of study for qualifications at level 4 to 6, a return of maintenance grants for low income adults, and a right to paid time off for education and training.

“I see education like an escalator running alongside you throughout life”

The plans, which would cost an estimated £3.17 billion annually by 2023, are based on the headline recommendations from the final report of the party’s independent Lifelong Learning Commission.

A recommendation in the report but absent from tomorrow’s announcement is that adults should have a “right upon enrolment to lifetime access to beginner and taster content, free of charge, whether at institution or system level – with public universities, colleges and other reputable providers encouraged to work together to provide these opportunities”.

Labour told FE Week this recommendation, along with all others in the report, hasn’t been dropped. A spokesperson insisted the party is continuing to work on incorporating them into its National Education Service, which will provide “cradle-to-grave learning that is free at the point of use”.

But it is unclear whether the proposal will be a manifesto commitment in this year’s general election.

Sue Pember, former director of FE at the Department for Education and now director of policy at adult education network HOLEX, said she welcomes Labour’s commitment to lifelong learning and is “looking forward to reading their ideas on supporting the forgotten 30 per cent who have poor basic skills and no level 2 qualifications”.

@GordonMarsden what about those who need basic skills and support to get their first level 2. Your table on page 65 has forgotten about the 20% of the population who need your support the most @LabourList @DavidLammy #speakup4adulted https://t.co/N0a3nCcTPH

— Susan Pember (@SusanPember) November 12, 2019

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said Labour’s proposals “are ambitious and involve a significant increase in spending”.

“Given the scale of what Labour is proposing, it is unlikely that it would be able to achieve all these objectives immediately, and it needs to be clear about its priorities,” he added.

Currently, only those aged 19 to 23 have their first full level 2 and 3 qualification fully funded. Labour would bring back full funding, at all ages, for both levels, as was recommended by Philip Augar’s review of post-18 education and funding.

As previously announced, Labour would also bring back EMA for sixth form students.

The party said new research it plans to release tomorrow shows that the number of adults achieving qualification in basic skills has plummeted over the last decade.

In 2011 there were 633,000 adults achieving a qualification in either English, Maths or ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) but this had fallen by 40 per cent to 418,500 in 2017/18.

And the number of adults currently learning is at its lowest point since 1996, as revealed by the Learning and Work Institute in September.

Labour said it is pledging to put vocational education on a par with university degrees and deliver a “radical expansion” of lifelong learning to make sure “no one is shut out of education.”

Taking inspiration from Robert Halfon’s “ladder of opportunity” phrase, Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party, will say that he sees education “like an escalator running alongside you throughout life, that you can get on and off whenever you want”.

“That’s what Labour’s National Education Service will offer people – free education, as a right for all,” he will add.

“I’d rather give a break to the worker who wants to learn, than a tax break to the billionaire who wants for nothing. That’s the difference between Labour and the Conservatives.”

Labour has not said how it will fund these proposals, but the lifelong learning commission recommended the party should “review the effectiveness of the current corporation tax relief in leveraging skills investment, and consider how tax relief might be extended to smaller employers – for example through research and development tax credits”.

Another eight apprenticeship providers have been stopped from doing new business after being rapped by Ofsted.

The penalties were revealed in the latest update to the register of apprenticeship training providers, released today by the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

In accordance with ESFA rules, any new provider found to be making ‘insufficient progress’ in at least one area of an early monitoring visit from the inspectorate will be suspended from recruiting unless there are “extenuating circumstances”.

The eight to receive bans after poor Ofsted performances are: Azesta Limited, Care-Ex Services Limited, Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust, E G S Nationwide Limited, Gower College Swansea, Kingswood Learning And Leisure Group Limited, New Model Business Academy Limited and South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust.

They are among a list of 49 providers that are currently suspended from taking on new apprentices, which is a reduction on the 56 bans reported by the ESFA in September.

Since then, 10 of the 56 have left the apprenticeships register altogether and can no longer deliver the programmes in any capacity.

These are: Apprentice Assessments Limited, Care Training Solutions Ltd, JT Development Solutions Limited, Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust, Moor Training Limited, Poole Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, SCL Security Ltd, The Academy Hub Ltd, The Business Portfolio (UK) Limited and Vortex Training Solutions Ltd.

And five of the 56 have had their suspensions lifted after achieving at least a grade three in a full Ofsted inspection, or found to be making ‘reasonable progress’ in safeguarding if that was the only area that failed during their first monitoring visit.

These are: Contracting Services (education and skills) Limited, EMA Training Limited, JM Recruitment Education & Training Ltd, Medivet Group Limited and The Education and Skills Partnership Ltd.

The full list of the 49 apprenticeship providers which have current recruitment suspensions (as of 12 November):

2 Sisters Food Group Limited

AAA Training Solutions Limited

Agincare Group Limited

Amdas Consultancy Ltd

Arriva London North Limited

Ashley Community & Housing Ltd

Ashley Hunter Ltd

Azesta Limited

Azilo Training Limited

Biffa Waste Services Limited

Bior Business School Limited

Care-Ex Services Limited

Catalyst Learning and Development Limited

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (recently achieved a grade 3 and will soon be removed from the ESFA’s banned list)

Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust

Cogent Skills Training Limited

E G S Nationwide Limited

E.Q.V. (UK) Limited

Fresh Training Services (UK) Limited

Gloucestershire Enterprise Limited

Goodman Masson Limited

Gower College Swansea

Havilah Prospects Limited

Hertfordshire Catering Limited

Home Group Limited

Kingswood Learning and Leisure Group Limited

Manatec Limited

Matrix Solutions International Limited

Mears Learning Limited

New Model Business Academy Limited

Piper Training Limited

Premier Nursing Agency Limited

Prospect Training (Yorkshire) Limited

Prospects Training International Limited

Right Track Social Enterprise Limited

Rita’s Training Services

Securitas Security Services (UK) Limited

SHL Training Solutions Ltd

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust

SSG Services (Est 2003) Limited

The Development Fund Limited

The Sandwell Community Caring Trust

The Teaching & Learning Group Limited

Took Us A Long Time Limited

Total Training Company (UK) Limited

University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust

WDR Limited

Wiser Academy Limited

YMCA George Williams Company

 

The University and College Union has threatened more strike action in the new year after the Association of Colleges recommended their members offer staff a one per cent pay rise this year.

After meeting today, the union said the “derisory” offer was tantamount to a “breach of faith” as the AoC previously acknowledged that staff deserved more and campaigned alongside them in calling for additional funding.

The UCU’s head of further education Andrew Harden said the offer is “simply inexcusable” and will “rightly anger staff”, especially after chancellor Sajid Javid announced colleges would benefit from a £400 million boost for learners aged 16 to 19.

“It sends a clear signal to staff that they are not being prioritised, which threatens key relationships at precisely the time when the sector needs to work together.”

AoC chief executive David Hughes called the chancellor’s boost a “welcome start to redress the decade of cuts,” but the AoC had calculated that a little less than half of that will end up with colleges next academic year. 

The association expects colleges to have funding allocations for 2020/21 by the end of March 2020 and they have promised to accelerate a pay recommendation for the following academic year.

But “to do so any sooner would be reckless given the financial stress colleges find themselves facing”.

Hughes said decisions regarding pay “never come easily” and described staff as the “backbone of our institutions – transforming the lives of millions each year”.

“We have been consistently clear that colleges want to do much better on pay but have been stymied as the cuts of over 30 per cent have put colleges under severe financial stress,” he added.

“We agree that college staff deserve better and will continue to campaign with Trade Unions, students and stakeholders to push the government for additional investment so that they can be properly rewarded.”

Harden believes closing the £7,000 pay gap between school and college teachers must be a priority, as the union said staff were already struggling to pay rent and had been forced to use food banks.

A one per cent offer, the union added, would only widen that pay gap after school teachers were awarded a 3.5 per cent pay rise in 2018.

Strike action has proven an effective strategy for UCU members looking for a pay rise: Capital City College Group agreed to a five per cent increase for staff in November, despite the fact it would plunge the provider into its third consecutive annual operating deficit.

In March, a strike at New College Swindon was called off after it agreed a two per cent pay increase.

Lambeth College agreed with staff in May to a three per cent rise, additional leave and a reduction in teaching hours following ten days of strike action.

And a deal at Hugh Baird College earlier in the year saw staff receive a pay rise of up to 6 per cent plus five days’ extra annual leave.