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BOURNEMOUTH AND POOLE COLLEGE IN CASH CRISIS (From Bournemouth Echo)
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BOURNEMOUTH AND POOLE COLLEGE IN CASH CRISIS
7:00am Friday 10th July 2009
BOURNEMOUTH and Poole College recorded a £7.5m deficit last year and needs to find almost £1m to stay open until the end of September.
The shocking depths of the financial crisis were revealed by college principal and chief executive Lawrence Vincent in a letter to MPs.
He states that the institution has “no money in the bank”, is “living off a £600k overdraft” and needs “to raise £900k just to keep the college running until the end of September.”
The situation came about after the government failed to deliver the promised funding for a £130m redevelopment project.
But the college, which had approval in principle for the plan, had already spent £11m in preparation – wiping out its £5m reserves and chalking up the multi-million-pound deficit.
Mr Vincent said he had met with the Learning and Skills Council to ask for the money back, but did not know how much they would get, or when.
His letter adds: “My fear is that they will ‘stabilise’ us but refuse to pay back all the money that we have spent. I want at least £8 million back.”
But when Mr Vincent spoke to the Echo he said: “We are and will remain solvent, but I want the cash back.”
He said the college had a “slight liquidity problem, not an instability issue” which would be resolved when students enrolled in September and funding came through.
He added: “What really matters is the quality of what we do here. That will remain regardless of this development.”
The college “remained committed to redevelopment” at both campuses but it was “too early to say” what alternatives would be considered.
Poole MP Robert Syms, who has scheduled an adjournment debate on the issue, said simply: “If they don’t get compensation the future of the college could be in doubt.”
COUNTDOWN TO CASH CRISIS
March 2008: Bournemouth and Poole College announced plans for £130 transformation of both its campuses – included demolishing and rebuilding the North Road site in Poole and renovating Bournemouth’s Lansdowne campus.
October to November 2008: Planning permission is granted, and the college expects final approval in March from the Learning and Skills Council, which is due to fund 80 per cent of the project.
December 2008: Beset with delays, the LSC puts a freeze on new bids while it carries out a review.
March 2009: The LSC freezes its Building Colleges for the Future Programme after it emerged it had encouraged bids from colleges worth £5.7 billion more than its budget. A total of 144 colleges expecting approval have their projects put on hold. LSC chief executive Mark Haysom quit his role, admitting failures in the programme’s management.
April 2009: An independent review of the debacle by Sir Andrew Foster’s concludes that the crisis was “predictable and probably avoidable” and “could have been mitigated if action had been taken earlier.”
June 2009: Government announces that only 13 of the 144 colleges will get funding – the rest, including Bournemouth and Poole told they will have to wait, with no guarantees of funding, until the next review in 2011.
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Your Say YourEcho
cantique, bournemouth says...
9:15am Fri 10 Jul 09
thesyrup1, Bournemouth says...
9:50am Fri 10 Jul 09
Don't get me started, Sandford says...
10:02am Fri 10 Jul 09
There's much talk of change for the 14-19 curriculum and how our schools will be working with local colleges to deliver wonderful opportunities for our children.
It's not fair to leave the College high and dry like this.
seniorman, Bournemouth says...
12:07pm Fri 10 Jul 09
All Seeing Eye, Poole says...
12:12pm Fri 10 Jul 09
nigel24, Bournemouth says...
12:21pm Fri 10 Jul 09
ion,Education was the words spelt out by Tony Blair yet our college's are near to extinction.Coming away from th subject but does Bournemouth need new parliamentarians because the way it going,i think so.
In Absentia, Bournemouth says...
12:25pm Fri 10 Jul 09
Chris..., says...
12:40pm Fri 10 Jul 09
In Absentia wrote:Why do you say that, if as you have read, there is no money coming forward to help, or they have been let down by government.
Typical tabloid journalism. There's no way that the college will close.
Yes, where are our overpaid MPs. Why have they not stepped in, why have they not stood up for Poole and Bournemouth. And yes, many of the College fat cats could be removed.
Perry_Winkle, Poole says...
1:10pm Fri 10 Jul 09
beachhut, Southbourne says...
1:51pm Fri 10 Jul 09
whatsnew, Swanage says...
3:10pm Fri 10 Jul 09
djd, bournemouth says...
3:56pm Fri 10 Jul 09
This is a Government agency and ultimately the Government must take responsibility.
TheXmasCrow, Highcliffe says...
4:12pm Fri 10 Jul 09
Thus,too much money is spent on presentation while the intellectual edifice crumbles.
The comments about lazy lecturers - what complete garbage. Teacher trashing is a common hobby these days for the clueless. I'd guess most teachers enter that profession to contribute to the good of society but instead become 'public punchbags' or objects of constant criticism from Government.
Without teachers doing a good job this country will become an internationally meaningless rock between the USA and Europe, so for once applaude the teaching profession and understand that without education we are nothing!!!!
Localsfirst, Poole says...
5:03pm Fri 10 Jul 09
Poole is FINISHED.
explodingthemyth, Christchurch says...
5:27pm Fri 10 Jul 09
Trifecta, Southbourne says...
5:37pm Fri 10 Jul 09
On what have they spent this money ?
WIGGINSv, Boscombe says...
5:45pm Fri 10 Jul 09
whatsnew wrote:More COMMON PURPOSE....google
Why the hell, is DCC prepared to go ahead to change Purbeck from 3 tier to 2 tier, they say it will cost between 35 - 100 million. Where will these funds come from. If this funding is not available, then the children will be educated within building sites for years and years. What can they be thinking of. Stop this now, before its too late.
TheXmasCrow, Highcliffe says...
5:48pm Fri 10 Jul 09
I understand that salaries in Further Education are poor compared to those offered by schools. This is obvious from looking at employment pages of the Echo.
Again, people yield to the temptation to ridicule intellectual professionals and categorise them as 'nutty' or 'overpaid'. So, what do we want instead of them then? More charming, socially irrelevant, besuited corporate goons that contribute nothing.
For goodness sake show our educators the respect that they are owed.
bex1984, poole says...
6:31pm Fri 10 Jul 09
dribble, Boscombe says...
7:57pm Fri 10 Jul 09
Trifecta wrote:This is the question that really needs to be answered. Just what WAS the £11 million spent on?
"But the college, which had approval in principle for the plan, had already spent £11m in preparation"
On what have they spent this money ?
Deke60, Bournemouth says...
8:14pm Fri 10 Jul 09
dribble wrote:Exactly!!! Also, who authorised this? The Principal? The Governors? Will the Governors be liable for the debt?
Trifecta wrote: "But the college, which had approval in principle for the plan, had already spent £11m in preparation" On what have they spent this money ?This is the question that really needs to be answered. Just what WAS the £11 million spent on?
BobbyPoole, poole says...
9:51pm Fri 10 Jul 09
All Seeing Eye wrote:I bet the staff that have been made redundant were not part of the lodge !!
Get rid of the vastly overpaid lazy lecturers who are only there through the fraternal brotherhood - Bournemouth and Poole Colledge and landsdown are rife with them - now is the chance to get rid of them!!!!!!
your comments are always illuminating !!
The-Bleeding-Obvious, bournemouth says...
10:27pm Fri 10 Jul 09
ferret38, bournemouth says...
7:49am Sat 11 Jul 09
fedupwithjobsworths, Moordown says...
8:59am Sat 11 Jul 09
bex1984, poole says...
2:16pm Sat 11 Jul 09
solitaire, christchurch says...
3:40pm Sat 11 Jul 09
weevie, Bournemouth says...
12:56pm Mon 13 Jul 09
In class they are an absolute nightmare, aggessive, foul-mouthed, and who's English is far below the level of your everyday European. The lecturers/tutors are paid a LOT less than any school teacher and book their holidays with their managers (they CAN NOT just swan-off for the summer).
English and Maths ARE timetabled in College, for EVERY full-time course, but the little idiots choose not to turn-up, and parental contact illicits a back-lash of uncaring, unheeding, verbal-abuse.
It is the Colleges who try to cope with the very youngsters we read about every week in the Echo, unsupported by Government, and against this increasing tide of loutishness, born from the boom-time parents who are always convinced "you're worth it" as they strive for the biggest flat-screen available (or car, or dog, or beefburger)and have lost the meaning of a relective, conscientious life - teaching their offspring how NOT to live, in the process.
weevie, Bournemouth says...
5:23pm Mon 13 Jul 09
sorry, I meant 'whose'
The Seasider, Poole says...
7:44pm Mon 13 Jul 09
As for pay in colleges- lecturers may not earn fortunes, but those who sit in the boardrooms and steer these big institutions in to the financing rocks, are paid quite handsomely. But dont ask me, ask the £192,000 a year chancellor of Bmth University... and the many like him.
Imagination is more important than knowledge: Einstein.
JemJay, Bournemouth says...
2:54pm Wed 29 Jul 09
In the two years I was at Bournemouth college I never saw any "loutish" behaviour in the classroom and know many people who would have left school unqualified and unable to pursue the career they wanted if it were not for the BTECS (or so called "mickey mouse subjects") offered by the college.
Also,I couldnt help laughing at the person above who commented that lecturers get paid 100-200 a year!This person is obviously not familiar with teachers salaries and the time they put in.
BOURNEMOUTH AND POOLE COLLEGE IN CASH CRISIS
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BobbyPoole, poole says...
7:16am Fri 10 Jul 09
Banks get bailed out after their own incompetence and then get paid vast "bonuses" for thier mistakes.
MP's can have their moats cleaned and their ducks housed
but a college is facing closure