Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Faulty formula leaves Moray College £500,000 worse off

Post Thumbnail

Moray College has been left £500,000 out of pocket because of a lopsided funding system which has funnelled the cash into other campuses.

The Elgin-based institution is run by the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI), which offers lessons at 13 different colleges and research centres from Argyll to Shetland.

Local MSP Richard Lochhead yesterday revealed that the Moray base, which has around 6,000 students, is being deprived of 10% of the money it is owed.

It has emerged that an “unequal” funding formula has split hundreds of thousands of pounds earmarked for the college among other facilities.

During questions at Holyrood, Mr Lochhead pressed Scottish further education chiefs on what was being done to remedy the shortfall.

The SNP politician said: “Moray College has provided evidence that, after UHI has divided the funds among the various colleges, Moray is under funded by about 10%.

“That equates to about £500,000 in its budget.

“It is clear that the college has been under funded recently, and I hope that the formula can be fixed so that does not continue.

“For Moray College to develop new degrees and continue to do its good work, it must have an equitable share of the funding.”

Mr Lochhead added that he understood government experts were now offering UHI bosses “technical support” to review the allocation formula.

Minister for further education, higher education and science, Shirley-Anne Somerville, said talks between Moray College and its parent group were ongoing.

She added: “The distribution of funding for UHI colleges is a matter for UHI.

“I understand that UHI remains in active discussion with Moray College on its funding for future years, and is waiting for further material from the college to move the process forward.

“I am sure that UHI will want an equitable settlement for the colleges across its region.”

Between UHI investment and government grant funding, Moray College received £8.5million between 2014/15 and £8.4million in 2015/16.

Last night, a spokeswoman for UHI said: “We continually work with our academic partners, including Moray College, to ensure an equitable settlement across our region within the envelope of funding available.”

Moray College was not available for comment.

The base was established as Elgin Technical College in 1971 and, after changing its name, it joined UHI in 1997.