Forth Valley College Alloa Campus threatened with closure

The Scotsman

Protest at Alloa college campus as final decision on potential closure looms  A meeting will be held on Friday to make the final decision on the future of the campus. Staff, students, union members and politicians rallied outside the Alloa campus of Forth Valley College against its threatened closure, with a final decision on its future to be taken at a crunch meeting this week.  Forth Valley College will decide on Friday whether the Alloa site will remain open to staff and students given its three-campus model is “no longer financially sustainable”.  The college, which also has campuses in Falkirk and Stirling, said its financial predicament had been caused by a drop in real-term funding, rising staff costs, higher energy costs and a 10 per cent credit reduction since the 2023/24 session.  GMB Scotland, representing workers across Scotland’s colleges, said the the threatened closure of the Alloa campus exposed a “national”crisis” in the funding of the sector.  Keir Greenaway, GMB senior organiser in public services, urged ministers to urgently support colleges to avert potentially catastrophic cuts to courses and jobs.  He said: “This is not a looming financial crisis but a financial crisis happening right now, a national emergency demanding emergency action.  “Our colleges are the rock the further education sector is built on and equip students with the skills and knowledge needed in a modern, successful country.  “If the Scottish Government understands that, it is not obvious.  “It is beyond time for ministers to listen to college staff and understand the scale of the threat to our campuses, not only in Alloa but across the sector.  “The crucial work of Forth Valley and our other colleges is being sabotaged by needless cuts and uncertainty when it demands respect, recognition and proper funding.”

Transcript

00:00I think it's really important that we have that unity going forward.

00:28I'm Richard Leonard, Member of the Scottish Parliament for Central Scotland, which covers

00:33the Forth Valley College. I'm here in Alloa at the site of the Clackmannon campus, which

00:39is under threat of closure. So students are here, trade unions are here, lecturing staff

00:47are here, all to show their defiance of any attempt to close this campus down.

00:53I'm Christina Mullen. I work at Forth Valley College Alloa campus. I think the closure

00:58of the campus would have a massive impact on the community. We have such levels of deprivation

01:05and struggle and a lot of our young people and a lot of our community members are unable

01:12to travel. I'm out with Quipmanonshire. We are quite closed off. We find it really difficult

01:17to get to other campuses and the opportunities for those people would be significantly reduced.

01:24I chose to come to Alloa because it's nearest to my house. I stay in Tilakootry so it's the

01:31nearest for me. It's only one bus here and back. So if this place closed, my only other option

01:37would be Falkirk as Stirling doesn't offer beauty therapy and to get to Falkirk that would

01:43be a two bus journey and I'd probably have to leave my house like probably an hour and

01:51a half to two hours earlier than I would normally have to because the bus services round here

01:57aren't always very reliable. It'd be devastating because I didn't drive so it'd be harder for

02:02me to get to Stirling to Falkirk. This campus is like a beacon of light in this community

02:07because it's really got nothing. A lot of people are quite angry, some people are genuinely

02:10worried because there's a lot of people here, they've been here two, three years and they've

02:14got kids but this is accessible to them. There's no chance that they're going to be able to

02:18look after the kids while getting to Stirling to Falkirk. A lot of them can't drive, a lot

02:22of them can't really afford the buses, the trains. Everybody here loves the place. It's one

02:27of the last things that Alloa really has going for at this point. When we look at different demographics,

02:32we look at care experienced young people and the struggles that they have accessing education.

02:37Sometimes further education at a college like the Alloa campus is the only option that is

02:41the best option and it helps them move through their career. This gives people opportunities

02:46to better their lives, the likes of myself. I've had a hard run of it the past couple of

02:50years there so it's gave me an opportunity to get my education and do better for myself.

02:54The staff are devastated. They absolutely live and breathe the Alloa campus and further education.

03:00We adore our students. We want them to succeed, we want them to thrive and to think that they're

03:07going to lose that, to think that we might not be here this time next year is absolutely devastating.

03:12Well first of all I do recognise that the college has got additional burdens. For example,

03:17the national insurance contributions introduced by the London government put £600,000 onto the

03:23wage bill of this college. So I realise there are pressures but the one place you should not

03:27cut is the future of people in Club Marninshire, especially young people who need to go on

03:32to further education somewhere they can access and that's Club Marninshire.

03:36I think what we need is we need the Scottish Government to realise that they've significantly

03:40underfunded further education for years. They have impacted the ability for young people and

03:47for other members of the community to access education, access employment and they need to step in

03:52and they need to make a change. It's a very real point that some people if they don't have the

03:57opportunity here will not go into further education and that would be a tragedy and that's the one

04:02reason why having spoken to the Cabinet Secretary, to the First Minister and to the Board I've made it

04:07absolutely clear this campus won't close and I'd be delighted with the response that I've had so far.

04:12So the Scottish Government working with the Funding Council can now take the decision to make sure both

04:18that this campus remains open, it's vital it does that, but also the range of courses that it offers

04:23is widened to make sure that all those opportunities for young people are not missed.

04:28It can be our next year and then it could be Stirling, Falkirk, it could be a domino effect all across this country.

04:37Students are scared, students are worried, they don't know where they're going to go, they don't know if

04:41their courses that they've been doing for the past year, the past two years, they want to progress and

04:47they don't know if they can do that moving forward if there's not an option to do it in Aloha.

04:52When we started in the Level 5 course and then going to Level 6, it's gave me loads of confidence so

04:57with this potentially closing down, it will not the confidence of the full community.

05:02I would like to see the voices of all the people gathered here being heard and being listened to.

05:09They're clear that they will not stand by and allow this campus to close, this college to close

05:17and I think the college principal, the board of management but also the Scottish government need

05:22to pay attention. The future of our lives is in your hands, we need this college, we need it.

05:43Thank you very much.

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