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Norwich changes its foreign policy
City College Norwich is to drop a controversial pilot scheme that outsourced the processing of student applications to India. As reported in TES earlier this month (“College pilot for offshore admin hits a few snags”, 6 April), the college admitted that the #163;8,800, three-month project had encountered “teething problems”. It has now decided not to extend the pilot after admitting it would take longer than had been thought to deliver “added value”. Jon Richards, head of education at Unison, which opposed the project, said: “It seems straight common sense that at a time of heavy public spending cuts, taxpayers’ money should be spent in local communities, rather than on exploiting cheap labour abroad.”
New president at the AoC
The Association of Colleges (AoC) has announced that Maggie Galliers, principal of Leicester College, will become its new president. Ms Galliers has been in charge at Leicester since 2002 and is a former principal of Henley College Coventry. She will take over from current AoC president Fiona McMillan in August. “Colleges are the backbone of the education sector and offer programmes of a breadth and depth that are second to none,” Ms Galliers said. “It will be an honour to serve as AoC president, a role to which I will bring all my energy, commitment and passion.”
Chesterfield College faces strike ballot
The University and College Union (UCU) has said that it will ballot members at Chesterfield College over strike action in a dispute about jobs and pay. The college has announced plans to make 39 teaching staff redundant by the end of the current term and is threatening to reduce the salaries of staff paid by the hour, UCU said. “Chesterfield College’s plans are bad for staff and students and will deter the best and brightest from wanting to come and work here,” said regional officer Anne O’Sullivan. “The college has left us with little choice but to ballot members.”
Destination education: pupils stick with it in Wales
A major survey in Wales suggests that more 16-year-olds are staying on in full-time education. Careers Wales’s annual “pupil destination” survey shows that the proportion staying on in education increased from 82.8 per cent in 2010 to 85.1 per cent in 2011. Of those, 55 per cent remained in school while 45 per cent went to FE colleges. However, there is still concern over the growing numbers of young people who become Neet (not in education, employment or training) at the age of 18. Trina Neilson, chief executive of Careers Wales, said more could be done to ensure that these young people receive support in schools and colleges.
