UHI Perth under fire for huge cuts including library and nursery

A document sent to staff and seen by The Herald lays out the college's financial position, which states that they must increase income or reduce costs by £4m by July 31, 2025.

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Proposals set out in the document include £3m in staff cost savings - not including an estimated £1m for voluntary severance pay - and £1m in reduction of 'non-staff costs'.

Cost savings include the removal of "unviable" courses, removal of lecturer-study skills roles, removal of the Higher Education Personal Academic Tutor role and the removal of programmes from the Schools College Partnership by the end of the current term.

In addition, the current library will be turned into "a more versatile study space" which will contain only a "limited book collection" and be open for only one evening per week. The library assistant role will be removed at the end of the current term.

Furthermore the campus nursery will be closed in the summer of 2024, with the loss of all nursery roles.

The voluntary service window opened on April 25 and will conclude on May 8, with the consultation process to end on May 24.

One student told The Herald: "The nursery closure is the only communication that Perth UHI has given to students, that there are going to be budget cuts, the nursery is going to close, and that’s all the information we have received.

“What the students don’t know is that they are going to remove most of the books from the library, they’re cutting roles like school programmes and careers advisor, no student learning support. None of that will be available now.

"They sent out a confidential email that some people have managed to get hold of but they didn’t disclose any of this to students, so none of the students know about these closures – the whole creative arts building is going to be closed within three years.

"I’m really stressed about it because I know that when I go home for the summer and then come back I’m coming back to an educational establishment with no library, which is insanity.

“Their online library is so terrible, there’s very limited access to journals and e-books and things, they would have to invest a substantial amount of money into their online library – and this is money they say they don’t have and that’s why they’re making all these cuts."

The closure of the nursery, which provides childcare for more than 50 kids, will have a devastating impact.

A protest outside the nursery at UHI Perth (Image: Cara Steel)

A campaign has begun to save the provision, including a petition, with the facility providing crucial support for lecturers, students and the local community.

One parent told The Herald: "We just don’t accept that they’ve explored all opportunities to make the business viable but even then – why should it be profit-making?

“They’re there to provide a service, not to make money for shareholders and the board. We want to have a meeting with the management team because we want to understand the processes.

“They’ve told us there’s a likelihood of closure but we know from staff documents that they’ve already made their decision and that will happen in June, which doesn’t give us time to make other plans.

"We’ve missed the local authority deadline for applying for nursery places, so those places are already allocated to other children.

“I’ve called around many of the nurseries in the area and they’re all running at capacity – one of them actually laughed and said, ‘you’ll never get your child in this year’.

“It’s the same situation everywhere, so we have 56 children and every one that is aged two or over has experienced lockdown and now will have their education and socialisation stripped away from them again.

“Not only that, the nursery’s care inspectorate report is incredible, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better service within Perth.

“A lot of the parents are either staff or students, so that’s going to have a knock-on impact on college life.

"On Friday we had a brief meeting with Pete Wishart and at least two of the parents who were there said they were both students and didn’t understand how they could go back and study without this service.

"UHI is right in the middle of a poverty-stricken area, and there are children whose parents are not staff or students but live in these areas and are accessing a vital service.”

While the impact of cuts by the Scottish Government has necessitated cuts in colleges, many staff feel that the priorities are wrong when it comes to saving money.

A lecturer told The Herald: "Within the UHI there are 12 principals, 12 senior management teams, 12 HR departments, 12 estates departments, 12 sets of middle managers.

“This is unsustainable and unaffordable.  How many principles, senior management teams and middle managers does one university need?

“Of course savings have to be made, but the management at Perth and the other UHI colleges are looking in the wrong places.

"The proposed cuts will have a drastic impact on the students and local economy.

“In a recent Education Scotland visit UHI Perth was praised for student support, particularly mental health support and pastoral care. It's proposed to withdraw some of the metal health support and most of the pastoral care, and we fear the impact on the students.

“The Education Scotland visit also praised the links with schools.  It is now proposed that we are to lose all these school partnerships and the links will be severed. We worry about the impact on school pupils in the region.

“The proposals to shut the nursery are nothing short of a disgrace.”

Dr. Margaret Cook, Principal and Chief Executive said: "Along with the rest of the college sector, the current landscape presents formidable challenges.

"Alongside reductions in funding and the cost-of-living crisis, we have rising staff and utility costs, leaving us with significant economic concerns and the requirement to create a financially stable future.

"Our aim with the UHI Perth Financial Sustainability Project and consultation process is to ensure the long-term sustainability of UHI Perth.

"We need to continue to deliver quality teaching and support to our students who benefit from the opportunity to gain skills, experience, qualifications and enjoy an excellent experience while studying with us. 

“In order to prevent compulsory redundancies, we remain committed to achieving this by launching a voluntary severance scheme.

“We recognise this is an incredibly stressful time for everyone and wholeheartedly appreciate colleague’s patience, input and dedication throughout the extremely difficult nature of this consultation period of work. We are continuing to welcome input and feedback from across the college, holding various opportunities for staff and students to engage with us.  We will also provide support for any staff affected by these proposals.

“Our recruitment for 2024/25 is strong and we continue to welcome applications for our range of courses, apprenticeships, and skills opportunities. Where courses or other services are likely to be impacted by any changes, we will communicate with those affected directly and will support each learner as best as we can. 

"Since the Autumn and more, we have been exploring various models that can financially sustain the future of our Nursery.

"These have been exhausted and therefore part of the proposal that has been put to our Trade Unions is a proposal to close our Nursery at the end of June 2024.

"This proposal does not come lightly to the College as we all know our Nursery is an excellent facility for our young people where we have received excellent reports from the Care Inspectorate as well as positive feedback from parents and carers over the years.

"The timescales that we are proposing to work to will mean that collective consultation will conclude at the end of May and we will then be in a position to make clear our final decisions.

"Should the final decision be to close the Nursery we have been assured by Perth & Kinross Council that they will work with all parents/carers to facilitate, where possible, a move to another suitable nursery."