Is the university funding crisis spreading to North East Scotland College?

The funding crisis hitting Scottish universities risks spreading to college campuses including Aberdeen, Peterhead and Fraserburgh.

And while political focus is concentrated on fixing huge funding blackholes at high-profile universities, North East Scotland College principle Neil Cowie warns vital training providers like his are getting a raw deal.

Students are already being turned away from a place at Nescol – which has bases across the three locations – because of a lack of funding at a time of rising demand.

It is more keenly felt as the region prepares to shift away from oil, and workers try to retrain for new, renewable energy jobs.

Nescol recently learned its funding will rise by just over 3% in 2025-26.

Mr Cowie says that “relatively modest uplift” will see around £240,000 added to its core teaching grant.

But that proposed allocation still only covers half of the anticipated increase in costs for the college.

It will take three years before the funding formula brings funding up to about £800,000 annually, thanks to a change in allocations.

Mr Cowie said: “We are naturally appreciative for any additional resource. However, our campaign for fairer funding is not at an end.

“Our unique catchment area, covering more than 2,500 square miles and with large city campuses as well as rural campuses in Fraserburgh and at the Scottish Maritime Academy, is not reflected in the approach to funding.

“Even with the welcome changes announced last week, we remain underfunded in comparison with large urban colleges.

“In comparison with small rural colleges, we remain significantly underfunded.

“Consequently, Nescol and our region will remain disadvantaged.”

What could this mean for students?

Mr Cowie warns demand continues to grow at the same time as the college suffers from a “lack of investment by the Scottish Government”.

The college boss warned in February how the college was having to “turn people away”.

He added: “We are being asked by the UK and Scottish governments to support a just transition towards a low carbon future for the north-east.

“The reality of the current funding arrangements is we are given no additional support to meet those ambitions as part of our core teaching grant.

“Instead we have faced a succession of real-terms cuts.”

More than a third (35%) of all school leavers in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire chose Nescol as their next destination, underlining its importance to the region.

That rises to up to 60% of school leavers in the region’s priority neighbourhoods, those which fall within the most deprived.

It is one of the largest providers of vocational education and training in Scotland, delivering courses to more than 20,000 full-time, part-time and distance learning students each year.

The college operates from its main Aberdeen Altens, Aberdeen City and Fraserburgh campuses as well as the Scottish Maritime Academy in Peterhead and caters for around 6,000 full-time students each year.

Nescol is among the colleges who pushed the Scottish Funding Council to change how allocations are calculated, claiming to have lost “millions” of pounds previously.

The pressure led to a change for next year which Mr Cowie says will help Nescol make up some lost ground.

‘We remain underfunded’

We previously detailed how the college lost millions intended to support rural communities since a funding model was introduced when Aberdeen College merged with Banff and Buchan College in 2013.

The previously separate Fraserburgh-based college used to get a “rurality premium” to run more courses in areas with lower numbers.

Those changes resulted in the loss of around £3m every year.

‘Our approach has received support from many colleges’

A funding council spokeswoman said recent changes were made after requests to address “issues of transparency and comparability” between learners on similar courses at different colleges.

She added: “This provides allocations based on updated profiles of activity using data provided by colleges and moves to addressing historical inequities in funding.

“Our approach has received support from many colleges across the sector.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said SFC’s indicative allocations provide the sector with a 2.6% increase in teaching funding compared with last year.

He added: “Colleges called for greater transparency and the ability to compare funding for students on similar courses across institutions, and the SFC has been able to meet that ask.”