UCU calls for urgent investigation of Doncaster College as principal is suspended
29 April 2009
UCU has called for a public investigation into the way Doncaster College is run, after its principal, Rowland Foote, was suspended.
The union has written to the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) asking for an urgent review of the college's finances, and demanded that redundancy plans are scrapped.
Staff have been told that 160 posts will go and that some lecturers will be replaced by lower skilled assessors, as Doncaster looks to reorganise. UCU has urged the Learning and Skills Council to look at the college's accounts, and to provide any extra funding to save jobs. This is the fifth time in five years that management has looked to restructure the college, and lecturers have been warned to expect increased class sizes as a consequence of the job losses.
UCU regional official for the East Midlands, Russ Escritt, said: 'The plans for mass redundancies were drawn up by a principal who the governors have obviously lost patience with. We need a sea change of direction here. The LSC must carry out its own financial review of the college and protect jobs. It would be a disaster for students, and the local area, if the redundancies go ahead. Doncaster needs a strong teaching force, not a slimmed down one. We hope the governors will see the madness in the current plans and not replace lecturers with assessors which is teaching on the cheap'.
UCU head of further education Barry Lovejoy said: 'Doncaster College needs to go back to the drawing board and scrap these plans. The lessons of what's happened here must not go unheeded. The Learning and Skills Council really needs to get a grip on this crisis, and ensure jobs are protected. The college has repeatedly talked about becoming a university, but that aim is just pie in the sky at the moment.'
Staff have been told that 160 posts will go and that some lecturers will be replaced by lower skilled assessors, as Doncaster looks to reorganise. UCU has urged the Learning and Skills Council to look at the college's accounts, and to provide any extra funding to save jobs. This is the fifth time in five years that management has looked to restructure the college, and lecturers have been warned to expect increased class sizes as a consequence of the job losses.
UCU regional official for the East Midlands, Russ Escritt, said: 'The plans for mass redundancies were drawn up by a principal who the governors have obviously lost patience with. We need a sea change of direction here. The LSC must carry out its own financial review of the college and protect jobs. It would be a disaster for students, and the local area, if the redundancies go ahead. Doncaster needs a strong teaching force, not a slimmed down one. We hope the governors will see the madness in the current plans and not replace lecturers with assessors which is teaching on the cheap'.
UCU head of further education Barry Lovejoy said: 'Doncaster College needs to go back to the drawing board and scrap these plans. The lessons of what's happened here must not go unheeded. The Learning and Skills Council really needs to get a grip on this crisis, and ensure jobs are protected. The college has repeatedly talked about becoming a university, but that aim is just pie in the sky at the moment.'
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