Students living at a Hall of Residence in North Lanarkshire will have to find somewhere else to live for the next term.
The facility at New College Lanarkshire’s campus situated in Motherwell is set to close, with staff being offered voluntary redundancy or redeployment within the wider college community.
The college’s board say it was left with “no realistic option other than closure”.
Comprising of 49 furnished en-suite single study apartments, the accommodation in Enterprise Way has been operating at a deficit for the last few years.
According to figures released the deficit in 2021 was £69,621, that reduced slightly to £64, 478 in 2022. This year’s projected loss is significantly lower at £7,655 but college bosses put that down to Strathclyde University taking up a contract for 16 of the rooms, but have indicated that won’t be renewed in the coming academic year.
The closure of the student accommodation in Motherwell was one of a number of cost-cutting measures announced this week by the college’s board who revealed the establishment is facing “significant financial challenges”.
They claim a reduction in funding for the coming financial year of 0.7 per cent has resulted in a real terms cut of £4.3 million.
It was announced that two nurseries owned by New College Lanarkshire, at their Coatbridge and Cumbernauld campuses, were also to close in the coming weeks with over 30 members of childcare staff affected. However, that decision was quickly revisited and within 48-hours it was announced that they would remain open until the end of the year.
And back in April it was announced that the college will leave the Hamilton campus when its lease expires in July, with staff re-located to other campuses.
However, Lanarkshire Live understands that the college is also looking to reduce staff numbers by almost 50 fte (full time equivalent posts), that’s in addition to those at the nurseries and Halls of Residence.
A recent communication that went out to college staff from Principal and CEO Professor Christopher Moore, who was appointed in 2019, detailed that a “voluntary severance scheme” was now open for applications.
A statement from the college said: “It is with great regret that a decision has been made by the Board of New College Lanarkshire to close its Halls of Residence from the end of the current term.
“The board acknowledges the halls have offered a superb service for students for many years and is extremely grateful for the invaluable contributions staff have made.”
It added: “This decision, which was an extremely difficult one to make for all involved, was only reached the Board and management team had explored every viable option before reaching this conclusion.”
Collette Bradley, Unison steward at New College Lanarkshire said: “In the wider context this is part of an attack on frontline services all over Scotland in the college sector, at the hand of financial mis-managers.”
Unison has launched an online petition calling on Education Minister Jenny Gilruth to intervene in the “crisis engulfing the Further Education sector in Scotland”.
It calls for a commission to carry out a proper review of college finances and governance, as well as ring-fenced funding for pay rises, and to protect courses and services for students.
The petition can be found at : https://chng.it/87RCKPR8
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