Our colleges are crucial to our economy and our society, serving some of the most excluded communities in Scotland.
If we care about widening access, fairness and if we care about Scotland’s future, then we must care about our colleges.
This is Our Future and it is Our Fight.
Action
Sign the ourfutureourfight.org petition. Your MSP will automatically be notified that you have signed up to the campaign, and will be urged to get back to you to let you know what they will be doing to protect colleges.
Download a paper copy of the petition and sign up others to the campaign.
Contact us for more information about the campaign, including details on what you can do to help.
Background
The Scottish Government is proposing a cut of over 20% to colleges across Scotland over the next three years. This comes on top of a 10% cut last year which has already led to increased class sizes, reduced teaching hours, course closures and over a 1,000 staff losing their jobs.
Colleges have already been disproportionately hit and the newly proposed cuts are a very real further threat to our education and to our communities. At a time of record unemployment and recession, these proposed cuts put at risk college places, quality and local access.
Together, we have to act now.
What we want:
NUS Scotland and students’ associations across Scotland will be campaigning throughout the coming months to protect colleges from the impact of these devastating cuts and lobbying college principals and MSPs to:
MSPs must keep their commitments and protect the college bursary budget at 2011/12 levels.
MSPs signed a pledge in the Scottish Parliament elections committing to protect college places. The funding must exist to protect college places available to students to access college education.
MSPs need to commit to ensuring teaching time will not be reduced and teaching credits at HE and FE level will be reinstated to 2010/11 levels. The funding must exist to protect teaching quality.
We want a commitment from MSPs that local access to college education will not be reduced and the doors to local education will remain open.