College plans for city centre campus

South Wales Evening Post, 10.09.09

SWANSEA College is planning to abandon its Tycoch home and move in to the centre of the city.

Parc Tawe is the favoured location for the momentous switch, which will form part of its proposed merger with Gorseinon College.

However, it might face competition for the city centre site — retail giant Tesco is rumoured to be interested in building a new supermarket there.

The merger of the two colleges was revealed last November, and since then both institutions have been working on the plans.

A consultation document says that the “unique identities” of both colleges will be retained in the new merged college, which will be the second biggest in Wales.

Under the plans, Gorseinon College will keep its Belgrave Road base and will be a sixth form centre, while in the long-term Swansea College will move to Parc Tawe and focus on vocational courses up to degree level, open to learners of all ages.

The document says a move into the city will allow “areas to the east of the city to be served more adequately than at present”.

Anthony Robertson, vice-principal of Swansea College, said: “Our vision for a merged college is that it will bring together two complementary, successful organisations to create an institution that will provide outstanding learning opportunities and experiences for young people, adults and employers in Swansea.

“Among the proposals for the new college is a new campus in the Parc Tawe area. This would not only provide an iconic, state-of-the-art learning environment for students and staff but it would also greatly assist Swansea Council in their regeneration of the city centre.

“The long-term aim is that, should the merger go ahead, the main sites of the new college would be Belgrave Road, Gorseinon, and Swansea city centre. Some existing buildings of Swansea College, such as the Tycoch campus, would eventually close but that would be a few years down the line.”

Supercollege for Cardiff

The process of merging two of South Wales’ FE colleges continues apace.  Coleg Glan Hafren and Barry College are now at the stage where the governing bodies of each college have  proposed combining to create a regional college serving Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan.

Preliminary investigations began in September 2008 after a Welsh Assembly Government report urged colleges to collaborate to establish “regional networks”.

Barry College and Coleg Glan Hafren jointly commissioned external consultants to research the issue.

A report proposing the merger was submitted to and welcomed by WAG’s Department of Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills.

Together the two existing colleges serve 21,000 students across eight sites in Barry, Rhoose and Cardiff, and offer more than 1,000 courses.  If the merger does go ahead it is expected that the new college will begin its new life in September 2010.

For further details on this report see :
Plans to create a new regional super college, by Katie Norman, South Wales Echo, 05.08.09,

Welsh education grants system “a complete mess”

Angela Burns: Grants system " a complete mess to be honest"

A report by  the finance committee of the Welsh Assembly Government has concluded that the present system for allocating education grants to schools and colleges in Wales is confused and bureaucratic.

The report focuses mainly on schools and local authorities but also includes colleges in its remit.  As a result of this confusion schools and colleges could be missing out on thousands of pounds.  Schools complained that they were not aware of what grants were available.  Presumably, colleges are better equipped to deal with this problem as most have external funding offices.  

For colleges the problem appears to be one of bureaucracy.  Angela Burns AM, chair of the committee, commented on the BBC website:

 ”It’s a nonsense when you think you have someone running for example a further education college and is responsible for £16m worth of budget a year and yet in order to get a £5,000 grant they have to jump through more hoops than they would have to for their £16m a year.”

See:
BBC website: “Grants confusion ”costs schools” 

£12m for educational schemes in Wales

Coleg Gwent, Ebbw Vale Campus

By Katie Norman, Western Mail 09.07.09

MORE than £12m of funding has been allocated to education programmes in Wales.

The funding, announced by Education Minister Jane Hutt, is part of £40m for capital expenditure to provide an economic stimulus to help people, communities and businesses in the recession.

The money includes £4.5m for a new facility called The Learning Zone on the site of the Corus steelworks in Ebbw Vale, which will offer post-16 education in place of Coleg Gwent’s existing Ebbw Vale campus.

A further £1.8m has been allocated to the new Energy and Fabrication Centre on Coleg Menai’s Llangefni campus in Anglesey. The facility aims to equip people with work skills such as those needed for the decommissioning of the island’s Wylfa Power Station.

Design and planning work for further educational projects across Wales, as part of the Assembly Government’s Transformation agenda for further education, will receive £5.9m.

Deputy Minister for Skills John Griffiths said: “We are in the process of modernising post-16 education as part of our Transformation agenda.

“We want to provide learners with more choice and access while ensuring that the quality of education on offer is first class.

“This significant funding will be key to us securing the infrastructure to achieve that goal.”

Ms Hutt said the money would kick-start a number of initiatives in partnership with Barry College, Coleg Glan Hafren, Coleg Llandrillo, Coleg Mierion- Dwyfor, Gorseinon College and Swansea College.

“This new capital funding will make a real difference to education in Wales,” she said.

Cuts: now Bridgend axes A-levels

Last month Bridgend College was forced to announce that it was to close it’s A-level provision in the college.  According to a Walesonline report, it will leave 42 students currently studying AS levels having to look for another college or sixth-form to complete their A-levels.

The background to the college being forced into this situation is WAG’s funding settlement which has left Bridgend College with an estimated £1 million shortfall.  16 lecturing jobs will also be lost.

A Facebook group has been set up by students and can be accessed here.

According to a spokesperson for the college:
“We have prioritised all of our full-time vocational programmes delivered in the main to ages 16-19 as well as a wide range of part-time skills programmes aimed at improving employability.”

Earlier this month, Peter Black, AM, used the situation of Bridgend College as well as the plight of Gorseinon and Swansea Colleges to launch a last ditch attempt for more money for further education colleges in Wales.

See also:
Walesonline: Bridgend College axes courses and jobs
by Andrew Harrison, Glamorgan Gazette, 14.05.09

A-levels: sat-nav for the mind

Centre-right think tank the Reform Group have just published a report on A-level exams entitled, “A New Level”.  The report is highly critical of the modular form of the exam which, it argues, has broken up the coherence of a course. As a result, A-levels fail to prepare students for the rigours of university life as they create an expectation of spoon-feeding.

The report was based on the views of academics in mathematics, history, chemistry and English.  It was a mathematics professor who came up with the sat-nav analogy:  Professor Bailey, professor of statistics at Queen Mary, London University, berated exams which gave hints and tips to jog students’ memories.  ”If you read a map to get from A to B, you remember the route and learn about other things on the way. If you use a sat-nav, you do neither of those things.”

The report is also highly critical of the new diplomas in England and also recommends that universities should have more imput into A-level exams.

Click here to read the Reform Group’s  report: “A new level”.

BBC Website: A-levels “too much like sat-nav”.

Guardian: “Sat-nav students” can’t think for themselves, says A-level study

RSC Wales Blog:  Christine Davies of the RSC Wales comments on this article.

FE in Wales: a brief history

Anyone needing a quick history of further education governance in Wales since incorporation could do a lot worse than look at John Graystone’s article in today’s Western Mail.  John Graystone, who is chief executive of fforwm, highlights the changes which have been imposed upon the sector since 1992.  As a result, FE in Wales can arguably be described as the most efficient public sector in Wales.

As well as describing the past and present, Mr. Graystone speculates on the near future of governance which comes under scrutiny this autumn.

Click here to read John Graystone’s full article.

Future plans for Welsh-medium education unveiled

The Welsh Assembly Government has just launched its first ever national Welsh-medium Education Strategy.  It involves the 14-19 agenda and specifically targets post-16 education.  Amongst its recommendations are:

Providing a national strategic direction in the planning of the provision of Welsh-medium education across all phases of education and training;

Ensuring that all pupils and students have the opportunity to develop their Welsh-language skills to their full potential as they move through the education system and supporting Welsh-medium provision as an integral part of the 14-19 Learning Pathways and Skills agenda.

Commenting on the strategy, Education minister Jane Hutt said:
“We want to provide more opportunities for students to use Welsh as a medium of learning after the age of 16 or 18,”.

“We also need to make sure that opportunities are available in response to the requirements of the Learning and Skills Measure for 14-19 Learning Pathways, and that we contribute to a bilingual workplace by making opportunities for learning Welsh more accessible.”

See BBC Website:  Welsh education strategy outlined

Click here for The Welsh-medium Education Strategy

College unions launch new blog

Unison and UCU, the two main unions at Gorseinon College have recently set up their own blog to keep members informed of current developments concerning the funding crisis in FE and the consequent proposed redundancies within the college. 

The blog records all the twists and turns in the funding story at the college and presents the case of both unions with refreshing honesty. 

Readers of this blog may remember that Gorseinon College unions were at the forefront in organising the protest at the Welsh Assembly last month.  The resulting u-turn by the Assembly on funding was a great victory for the unions.  However, Gorseinon College recieved nothing from the £8.9 million.  The blog documents the continuing struggle to avoid cuts in services and closure of an outreach centre.   As this blog was turning into a Gorseinon College funding blog I will refer most future developments to this blog.

Link: Gorseinon College UCU/Unison Blog

Anger as adult learning centre set to close

Click here for BBC coverage

Source:  South Wales Evening Post, 25.04.09

An adult learning centre which employs 15 people is to close.

Canolfan y Bont, in Pontarddulais, which is run by Gorseinon College, will no longer provide its popular classes for adults at the end of the academic year because of funding cuts.

Trade unions, centre users and townsfolk are deeply unhappy at the move. Town councillor David Beynon, who attended computer classes at the centre, said: “Around 300 students use the Canolfan y Bont. It is invaluable to our community, so everyone in the town is incensed that it is to shut.”

Canolfan y Bont has proved  a hit with residents since it opened in 2000.  It offered a range of courses from computer classes to language lessons.  However, courses will cease at the end of the academic year.

Town mayor Suzanne Burgess said the announcement was another big blow for the Bont: “We have been told we are to lose our leisure centre, and now this.  I am bitterly disappointed” she said.

Gorseinon College described the closure as regrettable and insisted it was not to blame.

Deputy principal Noreen Williamson said: “The centre has been funded through EU money, but that has come to an end. We hoped to obtain additional funding from the Assembly to minimise the knock-on effects, but that has not materialised. Our hands are tied unfortunately.  Everyone at the college is unhappy with the situation.”

Mrs Williamson  added they hoped to incorporate some staff from Canolfan y Bont to the college’s Belgrave Road campus, but admitted job losses would be inevitable unless funding came in at the 11th hour.

Trade union members staged a protes outside the Dulais Road facility yesterday, criticising the Assembly over the closure.   UCU rep Gavin Palmer said ” The Assembly has only restored some of the money taken from further education in Wales, when a cut of 7.43% was applied to the funding allocations for 2009/10.  But Gorseinon College received none of the additional funds.  Pontarddulais without Canolfan y Bont would be a much poorer community in all respects.”

The Assembly said the additional funding it issued to schools and colleges was a direct response to the economic downturn.  A spokeswoman said:
“Gorseinon has already seen an increase in its allocation when compared to the previous year, therefore it did not qualify for a share of the additional £8.93 million recently announced.  The Welsh European Funding Office has not received any applications for Convergence funding from Gorseinon College either as a lead sponsor or joint sponsor.”