Forty-one full-time staff at Coleg y Cymoedd have taken voluntary redundancy as the further education college tries to save £1.3 million a year.
The college entered into a voluntary redundancy programme with staff in January after the Welsh Government announced it was reducing its further education budget by £29.9 million.
The voluntary redundancy programme is to be re-opened after 11 applications were refused because “the experience and expertise of the individuals is required in order to continue our delivery of curriculum and support services to learners”.
The college, which has campuses in Nantgarw, Aberdare, Rhymney, Rhondda and Ystrad Mynach, is also axing some of its part-time courses in September after receiving a further 50% cut in funding from the Welsh Government.
But the college said it is committed to ensuring current students can continue their studies.
Principal Judith Evans said: “We are working hard to ensure the impact of these cuts is felt as little as possible by our learners.
“By entering into a voluntary redundancy process we are able to make some contribution towards plugging the shortfall we will be left with as a result of these budget cuts and we will ensure we do all we can to reduce costs by voluntary measures.
“The reduction in our part-time course funding is a blow for us but we will ensure we prioritise those courses that have a real impact on the economy and positive outcomes in an area where it is much needed.
“We are also hopeful that we will be able to secure some European funding to help increase part-time provision again in the future.”
Guy Stoate, branch secretary of the UCU lecturers’ union said the cuts will have a great impact on adult learning and that the union will be balloting for strike action across Wales against cuts and redundancies.
He said: “Whilst we appreciate that management are trying to go through the voluntary route, this is going to see a considerable loss of education provision across Caerphilly and Rhondda Cynon Taff.”
He added that concerns over pay and the principal’s salary have been resolved and the union is focused on fighting the cuts.
Did`nt the Head of this combined College recently receive a personal pay rise of more than £43,000 a year,? could this sycophantic generosity to some individuals now be one reason why the college finds itself in a position of fiscal mismanagement.?.
Trefor, I think your memory serves you well. This college is crucial to the futures of many in our community and needs to be safeguarded.
Did`nt the Head of this combined College recently receive a personal pay rise of more than £43,000 a year,? could this sycophantic generosity to some individuals now be one reason why the college finds itself in a position of fiscal mismanagement.?.
Trefor, I think your memory serves you well. This college is crucial to the futures of many in our community and needs to be safeguarded.
Cutting course is not necessarily a bad thing provided the courses cut are superfluous or only exist to complement another course. For example, costume design could be cut with the resources folded into fashion design which is very similar (or both could but cut altogether).
You suggestion appears to me to be akin to shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic Dean.
Surely, your suggestion would have been amongst the first things the management team would have considered before this fell into a fiscal crisis, thats simply good management of resources, if there has been proper management, at all, of it`s resources. That`s three `Managements, and three `Resources`, must be something in that?
i would like to think the management team would have tried it but this is the same management team who happily go along with ludicrous ay rises, as well as building a new campus with electric windows that do not work (they are now opened by hand), white paint instead of whiteboards (everything had to be repainted), no complete coverage of wi-fi on opening, and a shortage of bins in classrooms.
Of course, I am not accurate in my claims as I have only drove past the new site and am relying on the word of my niece who attends the place.
As a second suggestion I would semi-privatise the college by offering access to business management courses run and sponsored by GSK, or higher mathematics run and sponsored by PWC etc…
Cutting courses is not necessarily a bad thing provided the courses cut are superfluous or only exist to complement another course. For example, costume design could be cut with the resources folded into fashion design which is very similar (or both could but cut altogether).
You suggestion appears to me to be akin to shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic Dean.
Surely, your suggestion would have been amongst the first things the management team would have considered before this fell into a fiscal crisis, thats simply good management of resources, if there has been proper management, at all, of it`s resources. That`s three `Managements, and three `Resources`, must be something in that?
i would like to think the management team would have tried it but this is the same management team who happily go along with ludicrous ay rises, as well as building a new campus with electric windows that do not work (they are now opened by hand), white paint instead of whiteboards (everything had to be repainted), no complete coverage of wi-fi on opening, and a shortage of bins in classrooms.
Of course, I am not accurate in my claims as I have only drove past the new site and am relying on the word of my niece who attends the place.
As a second suggestion I would semi-privatise the college by offering access to business management courses run and sponsored by GSK, or higher mathematics run and sponsored by PWC etc…