UNISON in The Herald: Holyrood warned college merging is not a quick fix

Holyrood warned college merging is not a quick fix

24 September 2012
Andrew Denholm

...The Scottish Government's strategy of regionalisation also came under fire from unions, which have submitted evidence to the education committee.
A paper from Unison, the country's largest public-sector union, says: "Colleges are already cutting jobs and closing courses in response to funding cuts. We expect there will be far more as the cuts begin to bite.
"Colleges will also face the added complications of a new regional structure and the funding cuts also seem to be encouraging many colleges to merge.
"We believe that regionalisation could make a difficult situation worse."
Unison said the problems faced by colleges were a result of the Scottish Governmnent's decision to prioritise higher education.
"The priority in post 16-education appears to be the Government's commitment to free higher education for Scottish students," the paper added.
"Further education budgets have on the other hand been cut by 13.5% over the next three years – a £70 million cut."
...

Full story on The Herald website:
http://www.heraldscotland.com/mobile/news/education/holyrood-warned-college-merging-is-not-a-quick-fix.18944169

See UNISON Evidence on HE and FE to the Scottish Parliament Education and Culture Committee on the Scottish Budget 2013-14 (Sep 2012)
http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/response/EvidenceonHEandFE_EducationandCultureCttee_Budget2013-14_Sep2012.pdf