North-east college places saved after new funding deal

North East Scotland College has revealed it expects to avoid any “significant” cuts to the number of full-time college places it offers despite budget pressures.

The education and training provider faced having to cut student spots from August due to an anticipated reduction to the core teaching grant.

But now bosses have received confirmation from the Scottish Funding Council that teaching funds have been maintained at the same level as 2023-24.

The college said it now expects “no significant change” to the number of full-time places available.

North East Scotland College (Nescol) currently delivers courses to around 6,000 full-time students at campuses in Aberdeen, Peterhead and Fraserburgh.

Including full-time, parttime, distance learning and school programmes, this rises to around 20,000 students who enrolled on courses in 2023-24.

The college had been braced for cuts that would have left it with a deficit of £4.5 million in 2024-25. This has dropped to £2.7m.

It is focused on cutting staff costs through voluntary severance and developing commercial revenue streams.

Neil Cowie, principal and chief executive of the college, said: “The positive news is that the announced funding reduction did not come to fruition. Rather than a cut to our core funding, we will receive a flat cash settlement.

“What that means is another year of real-terms cuts and significant challenges as we grapple with the impact of flat cash settlements in previous years, inflation bringing significant cost increases across our operations, and the pending pay awards in the college sector.

“While we waited for the indicative funding allocation we had planned for various eventualities.

“Funding cuts at the levels we had been signposted to would have left Nescol facing a deficit of £4.5m in 2024-25. The flat cash settlement reduces that gap to £2.7m – but that remains a stark figure.

“Our focus remains on reducing non-staff costs through a varied programme of initiatives, exploring opportunities to reduce staff costs through an ongoing voluntary severance programme, and developing revenue streams to reduce our reliance on diminishing public funding.”

The college has already seen training opportunities pulled after the Scottish Government scrapped a “flexible workforce development fund”.

Flat cash settlement cuts deficit to £2.7m but that remains a stark figure

FULL CAPACITY: Nescol’s campus in Aberdeen’s Gallowgate will not now see significant drops in student numbers.

College chief Neil Cowie.