SO the cuts are starting to bite at Kirklees College and there are probably more tough decisions still to come.
The college faces a 10% budget cut which equates to needing to save £800,000 in the coming academic year.
That will be no mean feat and college chiefs have already decided to rationalise its adult learning courses by not using eight of its sites dotted around Huddersfield’s community.
This will undoubtedly make it harder for some to attend the adult education classes, but the college is concentrating the teaching at its main centres in a bid to at least preserve the courses and, hopefully, enhance them.
Surely it is a sensible approach to try to offer as wide a range as possible while meeting the drastic budget reduction.
It also means that staff will be reduced with 20 full-time equivalent posts to go and let’s hope this can be lost through people wanting to take voluntary redundancy or early retirement.
The college is also keen to foster a ‘team’ atmosphere to look at the changes it needs to make.
By this it is encouraging staff to come up with ideas to save the college money and increase its efficiency.
Let’s hope that staff will respond in a positive way. Everyone who knows an organisation inside out will have ideas on how things can be changed and improved.
Surely that will be in everyone’s interests, both staff and students.
