A college is set to close tomorrow so staff and students can take part in a march for better FE funding.

New City College in East London will close tomorrow (Wednesday) so the college’s staff and up to 25,000 students can join in a march organised by education and students’ unions.

The closure to allow staff and students to take part in a demonstration is believed to be a first for the sector.

Here’s our CEO Gerry McDonald closing our student awards with a commitment to the #LoveOurColleges campaign @AoC_info @LondonColleges Further Education is under-funded. This must stop now. We deserve fair funding for our amazing students. Make a noise about it! pic.twitter.com/IAJq4E6FRQ

— New City College (@NewCityCol) October 3, 2018

The National Day of Lobbying is part of Colleges Week and will see the Association of Colleges, principals and students lobbying MPs while education trade unionists march in Westminster and then rally in Parliament Square.

‘March for further education’

The Love Our Colleges campaign is a partnership between the Association of Colleges, NUS students’ union, Association of College and School Leaders, University and College Union (UCU), GMB, TUC, National Education Union and Unison. Its aim is to raise awareness of the funding challenges that colleges face.

The “March for further education” will start from Waterloo Place, near Pall Mall, with an assembly time of 12.15pm. The march will depart at 12.45pm finishing at Parliament Square.

From 1.30-2.30pm a rally will be held where a number of high profile politicians, trade unionists and sector leaders will speak.

Confirmed speakers at the rally include: 

Wishing everyone a great #LoveOurColleges week. So much is going on showing the pride, creativity and energy that colleges generate.The Government must invest in our colleges now, morale is low within the sector after years of cuts. Labour will restore pride in our college sector pic.twitter.com/iMSIEBEqxq

— Angela Rayner 🌹 (@AngelaRayner) October 15, 2018

• Angela Rayner, Labour’s shadow education secretary 
• Shakira Martin, NUS president 
• Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion 
• Layla Moran, Lib Dem education spokesperson
• Christine McAnea, Unison deputy general secretary 
• David Hughes, Association of Colleges chief executive 
• Kevin Courtney, NEU joint general secretary
• Kevin Rowan, TUC head of organisation, services and skills 

What has happened so far?

Events are taking place at colleges up and down the country. The Love Our Colleges website has some ideas of activities you can plan. 

As of October 16, more than 24,000 people have signed an online petition calling for college funding to be increased to “sustainable” levels.

Chesterfield College staff and students sang a cover of Stephanie Mills’ Never Knew Love Like This Before, in which they replace the word “love” with “cuts” so that the lyrics become: “We never knew cuts like this before - further education’s on the floor.”