Students fall by 40% amid college crisis

SCOTLAND’s colleges have suffered a slump in students, budget cuts and a rise in dropouts under the SNP.

A damning report by the Audit Scotland public spending watchdog said the Scottish Government had failed to plan for the effect of college mergers on student numbers.

Colleges’ financial planning is poor and collectively they have sunk £28million into the red, although measures such as pension changes have reduced the deficit to £3million.

Falling attainment and retention of students until the end of their courses was also uncovered by the report.

Last night, Scottish Labour education spokesman Iain Gray said: ‘The SNP’s record on colleges is simply shameful – budgets slashed, fewer students, falling attainment, inadequate student support and botched mergers.

‘Nicola Sturgeon says that education is her top priority, she has put her best minister in charge [her deputy, John Swinney] and devoted plenty of warm words to it. It’s now time to go beyond spin and fix her party’s own record.’

According to the Audit Scotland report, published today, college student numbers overall have decreased by about 40 per cent over eight years, mostly among women and over-25s, from around 375,000 to 225,000.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) estimates the sector will have suffered cuts of £50million by 2015-16 thanks to a series of controversial mergers.

Despite the cutbacks, some college bosses have received massive pay-offs, with principals pocketing a total of £2.4million in ‘golden goodbyes’.

Most notoriously John Doyle received £304,000 after leaving his post at Coatbridge College.

Full-time attainment fell in nine colleges between 2013-14 and 2014-15, by between 1 and 8 per cent.

The report said that between 2009-10 and 2013-14, retention rates rose from 75 to 80 per cent, but fell to 78 per cent in 2014-15.

The report said: ‘Retention decreased in most colleges during this period, but increased slightly at Glasgow Clyde, South Lanarkshire, Moray and North Highland colleges.’

Colleges suggested that the ‘amount of change experienced by the sector in recent years could have contributed to the reductions in attainment and retention’.

The report said that colleges had ‘also suggested increased efforts to target harder-to-reach students could be a factor, for example widening access to students from more deprived areas’.

Auditors said that while the overall financial health of the college sector was ‘relatively stable’, financial performance had deteriorated, with four colleges – Edinburgh, Moray, North Highland and Lews Castle – facing challenges.

Last night, Scottish Tory education spokesman Elizabeth Smith said: ‘This report... makes clear that the Scottish Government’s severe cuts to college budgets are having a detrimental impact on the ability of colleges to maintain employee numbers, on staff morale, and on their ability to support students to develop the skills they most need in the workplace.’

Education Minister Shirley Anne Somerville said: ‘We have a strong track record on colleges. Since 2007, we have invested more than £550million in estates and maintained more than 116,000 full-time equivalent college places.

‘Refocusing our resources on courses that will best prepare people to get a job was one of the major objectives of our reform programme.’

‘Controversial mergers’