Hunt no FE Hero
Photo Credit: Jeremy Hunt: official House of Commons photo (link to license)
The Spring Budget, like the Chancellor's previous autumn statement, has not come to FE colleges' rescue. The last statement effectively acknowledged education institutions' cost issues by awarding extra schools funding. This time, the Chancellor found £288m for early years by 2023-24. On both occasions, there was nothing extra for FE. We know the Chancellor wishes to cap government spending wherever possible. Given significant cost inflation, this places public services under substantial pressure. Seeing which providers get some help and which get none provides us with an insight into the government's priorities.
FE colleges rely on direct funding from the DfE. With rising costs and a recent reclassification denying access to commercial finance, colleges will find making ends meet increasingly challenging. David Hughes, the Association of Colleges chief executive, responded to the budget: "Once again, college leaders will be rightly dismayed that the sector has been overlooked by the Chancellor and are wondering why Jeremy Hunt continues to ignore the central role colleges play in delivering the enterprising, highly skilled, high-growth country, he wants to see... The past 12 years have witnessed a decimation in funding for education and skills for 16 to 18-year-olds and adults… unless and until this is rectified, employers will continue to find it impossible to recruit the skilled people they need." So why is there so little apparent interest in FE? The answer might lie in the choices facing potential students. In February, Hughes sent a letter to education secretary Gillian Keegan highlighting, alongside rising costs, another headache for colleges. "Lower than expected enrolments of 16-to-18-year-olds and adults... resulting from both the continuing preference for academic courses and for going into jobs rather than into education… [there are] considerable doubts about autumn 2023 enrolments with the labour market pull likely to remain strong". Does the Chancellor prefer to encourage young people into HE courses, FE Courses, or employment? HE enrolment has no immediate impact on the public purse. The FE sector needs more cash to keep delivering. More youth employment (however low-skilled) will grow the economy, if only marginally, immediately. Has short-termism triumphed again? Hunt might want to see a "highly skilled, high-growth country." However, investment in skills takes years to have that effect. Right now, the Chancellor would likely be happy to deliver a 'some-growth country' before the next election.
University of East Anglia: Buildings Brutally Expensive?
Norfolk Terrace Student Accommodation: University of East Anglia: Author: Nicola j. Patron: license.
How did the University of East Anglia end up facing a £30m deficit? asks the BBC. UEA reportedly anticipates a £30m operating loss during 2022/23.
Compulsory redundancies have not been ruled out, but a spokeswoman for the institution said that option would be the "last resort". The cause of the university's woes was the combined "effects of Covid, the tuition fee freeze, pressures on student numbers and rising costs".
Last year's accounts (2021/22) indicate a £74m operating loss. However, this includes 'non-cash' costs greater than the actual loss. Nevertheless, capital expenditure (investment in equipment and buildings that are not included in operating profit/loss) contributed to an actual cash outflow of £16m.
The 2021/22 accounts included capital expenditure of £5.1m on 'long-term maintenance' and £6.8m on the 'Campus Development Plan'. The BBC notes high costs for "essential building work on campus". Those include work to its Grade II teaching block, the so-called Ladsun Wall. Without "urgent repair", the university warns it might be unable to use the complex beyond 2025. "The building is deteriorating fast," a university spokesperson said, adding unless major repairs were carried out, it might have "to be closed permanently".
UEA was established in 1963 on a 320-acre (130-hectare) campus west of Norwich. Designed by Denys Lasdun (also known for his National Theatre Complex) in a concrete "brutalist" style, the original buildings included the Lasdun wall teaching block fronted by two ziggurat blocks of student accommodation (see above photo). Such structures, now sixty years old, often require repair and are usually poorly insulated.
However, whilst these buildings come at a cost, other factors are contributing more to the University's problems. Given its scale, UEA simply needs more students. In 2021/22, the University of Bath (another edge-of-town campus constructed in 1964) had similar operational costs (+5% on UEA). These include similar staff costs of £180m (+2% on UEA) and premises costs of £44m (+8%). Bath's capital expenditure also appears comparable to UEA's. The greatest difference? Bath had 22% more income (£361m), with more students and research grants contributing to a cash inflow of around half a million pounds.
Old Building Celebrated
The Association of Colleges Beacon Awards celebrates the best and most innovative practices among FE colleges. Last month the AoC announced the winners for 2022/23; the complete list is here.
The EKC Group won The Edge Award for Excellence in Real World Learning for its training hotel development: The Yarrow (pictured). Working with stakeholders and local employers, the Group, which runs six Colleges across East Kent, turned an unwanted mothballed building into a hotel.
The college says, "It's proven an effective tool in creating a talent pipeline for the sector, and the Group's commitment to its ongoing success has seen it rated the best hotel in Kent on Tripadvisor."
The award sponsor, Edge Foundation, promotes "interactive and engaging real-world learning and rich relationships between education and employers." The project should have impressed the sponsor; in 2012, the Edge Foundation started its own Edge Hotel School (trading as Wivenhoe House) in partnership with the University of Essex.
and finally, congratulations,
City of Wolverhampton College!
and City of Bristol College!
and North East Surrey College of Technology!
