Government cash needed to save colleges as A-levels go at Brooklands College, warns UCU
17 November 2009
UCU today called for intervention from the Treasury to resolve the building crisis in further education that claimed its first victim last week.
Brooklands College in Surrey has announced that it will be closing its Ashford campus and no longer offering A-levels after being left with debts of £11million following the collapse of a programme by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) to fund new college buildings.
The news means that all 162 A-level students at Brooklands College Ashford campus will lose their places in the summer with one year of their courses remaining. No A-levels will then be delivered at either the Weybridge or Ashford sites. Brooklands was one of 16 colleges in London and 144 across England that the LSC told would receive millions towards the cost of new buildings, only to have the money withheld.
In March Mark Haysom, then head of the LSC, which distributes government funding to colleges, resigned over the debacle with a £100,000 pay-off. A report into the crisis singled out 'a lack of leadership and long-term planning' for creating a problem that it described as 'predictable and probably avoidable.'
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'This is the last thing staff at Brooklands need right now. Colleges simply cannot just be left in limbo, especially when so many were encouraged to begin work in the first place. The government must provide additional funds to support further education and ensure that no students are left stranded midway through their courses. That money must be found in the chancellor's pre-budget report next month or other colleges will suffer similar fates to Brooklands.'
The news means that all 162 A-level students at Brooklands College Ashford campus will lose their places in the summer with one year of their courses remaining. No A-levels will then be delivered at either the Weybridge or Ashford sites. Brooklands was one of 16 colleges in London and 144 across England that the LSC told would receive millions towards the cost of new buildings, only to have the money withheld.
In March Mark Haysom, then head of the LSC, which distributes government funding to colleges, resigned over the debacle with a £100,000 pay-off. A report into the crisis singled out 'a lack of leadership and long-term planning' for creating a problem that it described as 'predictable and probably avoidable.'
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'This is the last thing staff at Brooklands need right now. Colleges simply cannot just be left in limbo, especially when so many were encouraged to begin work in the first place. The government must provide additional funds to support further education and ensure that no students are left stranded midway through their courses. That money must be found in the chancellor's pre-budget report next month or other colleges will suffer similar fates to Brooklands.'
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