GFTU BGCM 2019 Minutes

This is our mission and it is a very noble mission, as you can see. I think that

needs to be framed in terms of the discussion about the savage attacks on

adult education, so 30% cuts since 2014 in the sector, 300,000 fewer students

in adult education and there will be similar figures in higher education as well.

We have been the butt of an assault and it is interesting to note that despite all

that the college still manages to deliver against this mission and our vision.

That is borne out by the people who inspect us, so the bodies like Ofsted or the

Further Education Commissioner. They still talk about the fantastic job we do

in a climate of diminishing resource and tighter and tighter financial factors

essentially and I think that is important for us going forward. What it means in

terms of this debate is that Ruskin needs to modify what it is doing and do

different things. We cannot do the same things in the same way, because

perhaps we cannot afford it or perhaps we have to go into untrammelled waters

and find new sources of income and I think that is very important. It is also,

conference, useful to note that there has been a diminution in trade union

colleges. I think there are only about 16 now that deliver trade union education

and the figure was far higher than that two years ago, more like 25 to 30

colleges, so I think again that is a challenge for the sector and challenge for

colleges like us.

So what do we do in this marketisation, in this climate of neoliberalism, what do

we achieve? We have outstanding achievement. So does Northern College as

well. We have a 98% achievement rate for the college and that is across adult

education. We have a 96% progression to higher education and that is both

within and outside our institution. 89% of our students who come on a degree

with few qualifications, that means maximum up to level 2, gain a degree, so

that is quite a strong testament to what we do. We have been identified as

being exemplary for widening participation. If you come to the college you

would find that is the case. We are commended for our support for higher

education, but in a nutshell what this means is we deal with students at a

transitional point in their lives, they maybe have been made redundant, there

may be all manner of things that affect adults and we deal with that very well.

To be frank, lots of institutions do, but this is what we see as our kind of

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