Achi news desk-
A document sent to staff and seen by Yr Herald sets out the college’s financial situation, which states that they must increase income or reduce costs by £4m by July 31, 2025.
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The proposals set out in the document include £3m of staff cost savings – excluding an estimated £1m for voluntary redundancy pay – and a £1m reduction in ‘non-staff costs’.
Cost savings include removing “non-viable” courses, removing lecturer-study skills roles, removing the Higher Education Personal Academic Tutor role and removing programs from the School College Partnership by the end of the current term.
In addition, the existing library will be turned into a “more versatile study space” which will contain only a “limited collection of books” and will only be open for one night a week. The library assistant role will be abolished at the end of the current term.
Furthermore, the campus nursery will be closed in the summer of 2024, losing all nursery roles.
The voluntary service window opened on April 25 and will close on May 8, with the consultation process ending on May 24.
One student told the Herald: “The closure of the nursery is the only communication that Perth UHI has given to students, that there will be budget cuts, that the nursery will close, and that is all the information we have has been obtained.
“What the students don’t know is that they are going to remove most of the books from the library, they are cutting roles like school programs and career advisor, no student learning support. None of that will be available now.
“They sent out a secret email which some people have managed to get hold of but they didn’t reveal any of this to students, so none of the students know about the closure – the whole arts building creative is going to be closed within three. years.
“I’m very stressed because I know when I go home for the summer and then come back I’m coming back to an educational institution without a library, which is madness.
“Their online library is so terrible, there is very limited access to journals and e-books and things, they would have to invest a significant amount of money in their online library – and this is money they say they don’t have they have and that’s why. they make all these cuts.”
The closure of the nursery, which provides childcare for more than 50 children, will have a devastating effect.
A campaign has begun to save the provision, including a petition, with the facility providing vital support to lecturers, students and the local community.
One parent told the Herald: “We don’t accept that they have explored every opportunity to make the business viable but even then – why should it be making a profit?
“They are there to provide a service, not to make money for shareholders and the board. We want to have a meeting with the management team because we want to understand the processes.
“They have told us there is a likelihood of closure but we know from staff documents that they have already made their decision and that will happen in June, which doesn’t give us time to make other plans .
“We have missed the local authority’s deadline for applying for nursery places, so those places have already been allocated to other children.
“I have called around many of the nurseries in the area and they are all running full – one of them laughed and said, ‘You will never get your child in this year’.
“It’s the same situation everywhere, so we have 56 children and all of them who are two or older have experienced mobility restrictions and now their education and socialization will be taken away from them again .
“Not only that, the nursery care inspectorate’s report is incredible, you’d be hard pressed to find a better service in Perth.
“Many of the parents are either staff or students, so that’s going to have a knock-on effect on college life.
“On Friday we had a short meeting with Pete Wishart and at least two of the parents who were there said that they were both students and did not understand how they could go back to study without this service.
“UHI is right in the middle of an area facing poverty, and there are children whose parents are not staff or students but who live in these areas and use an essential service.”
Although the impact of cuts by the Scottish Government has meant that cuts are necessary in colleges, many staff feel that the priorities are wrong when it comes to saving money.
A lecturer told the Herald: “Within the UHI there are 12 principals, 12 senior management teams, 12 HR departments, 12 estates departments, 12 sets of middle managers.
“This is unsustainable and unaffordable. How many principals, senior management teams and middle managers does one university need?
“Of course savings have to be made, but the managers in Perth and the other UHI colleges are looking in the wrong places.
“The proposed cuts will have a huge impact on students and the local economy.
“In a recent visit by Education Scotland UHI Perth was praised for student support, particularly mental health support and pastoral care. It is proposed to withdraw some of the metal health support and most of the pastoral care, and we fear the effect on the students.
“The Education Scotland visit also praised the links with schools. It is now proposed that we want to lose all these school partnerships and the links will be severed. We are concerned about the impact on school pupils in the region.
“The proposals to close the nursery are nothing short of a disgrace.”
Dr said. Margaret Cook, Principal and Chief Executive: “Along with the rest of the college sector, the current landscape presents enormous challenges.
“Alongside funding cuts and the cost of living crisis, we have rising staff and utility costs, which leave us with significant economic concerns and the requirement to create a stable financial future.
“Our aim with the UHI Perth Financial Sustainability Project and the consultation process is to ensure the long-term sustainability of UHI Perth.
“We need to continue to provide quality teaching and support for our students who benefit from the opportunity to gain skills, experience, qualifications and enjoy an excellent experience while studying with us.
“In order to prevent forced redundancies, we remain committed to achieving this by launching a voluntary redundancies scheme.
“We recognize that this is an extremely stressful time for everyone and greatly appreciate the patience, input and dedication of our colleagues throughout the extremely difficult nature of this consultation period. We continue to welcome input and feedback from across the college, offering various opportunities for staff and students to engage with us. We will also provide support to any staff affected by these proposals.
“Our recruitment for 2024/25 is strong and we continue to welcome applications for our range of courses, apprenticeships and skills opportunities. Where other courses or services are likely to be affected by any changes, we will communicate with those directly affected and we will support all learners as best we can.
“Since the Autumn and more, we have been exploring various models that can support the future of our Nursery financially.
“These have come to an end and therefore part of the proposal that has been presented to our Trade Unions is a proposal to close our Nursery at the end of June 2024.
“This proposal does not come lightly to the College as we all know that our Nursery is an excellent facility for our young people where we have received excellent reports from the Care Inspectorate as well as positive feedback from parents and carers over the years.
“The timetables we intend to work according to will mean that joint consultation will end at the end of May and we will then be in a position to make our final decisions clearly.
“If the final decision is to close the Nursery we have been assured by Perth & Kinross Council that they will work with all parents/carers to facilitate, where possible, a move to another suitable nursery.”
