Colleges underfunded and ‘in decline’ according to staff survey

Nine in ten staff in Scotland’s FE colleges believe the sector is underfunded, according to a survey run by the trade union Unison.

In a report of the findings published today, 64 per cent of college staff believe college services have declined while 77 per cent are ‘extremely doubtful’ services will improve in the next year.

The merger of smaller colleges into regional ones since 2013 is blamed by 7 in 10 of respondents.

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Chairman of the union’s FE committee Chris Greenshields said the sector needed additional ring-fenced funding.

“Ordinary staff are appalled at the large pay-offs that unaccountable senior managers have been paying themselves while UNISON members are working harder and longer hours to try to maintain the quality of services they offered before the mergers and redundancies across the whole sector."

He warned of "real industrial relation problems" if pay and conditions aren't improved. 

Shona Struthers, chief executive of Colleges Scotland pointed to recent impact analysis which suggested the sector contributes £14.9bn to the economy every year.

“It is vital that colleges receive adequate revenue and capital investment so that we can continue to deliver. As a sector we are working to protect existing funding streams and seek further investment where possible,” she said.