UNION leaders have written to ministers urging them to intervene in a long-running stand-off at a college.

The Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) urged Angela Constance, the education secretary, to step in after the principal of Glasgow Clyde College was suspended by the chair of the board in February.

Larry Flanagan, the general secretary of the EIS, has also warned that governance across the further education sector needs to improve following excessive pay-outs to management at the former Coatbridge College in Lanarkshire.

The intervention comes as staff at Edinburgh College begin industrial action over changes to working practices.

Mr Flanagan said: "With the restructuring of the sector and the decision by the Scottish Government to reclassify colleges as public sector institutions it is essential they commit to operating with a true public service ethos.

"College boards and principals must be fully accountable for the decisions that they take and for how public funding is spent and the situation at Clyde College and Edinburgh College clearly indicates that the challenges within further education have not ended with the regionalisation programme."

Meanwhile, the Scottish Parliament's Public Audit Committee has confirmed that a college principal accused of feathering his own nest with a share of an £850,000 pay-off has been called to appear before MSPs.

Former Coatbridge College principal John Doyle, a member of his staff and five managers shared half of a £1.7 million severance pot among them when the college was merged into New College Lanarkshire last year, a public spending watchdog revealed last month.

He has now been called before Holyrood's Public Audit Committee to answer questions from MSPs who have accused the staff involved of colluding to "feather their own nests" and deliberately withhold advice from the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) when it called the money into question.

Former college chairman John Gray will also be invited to face the committee at its next meeting on Wednesday October 28.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she was "appalled" by the pay-offs, which Auditor General Caroline Gardner described as one of the most serious failures in governance she has ever encountered.

Public Audit Committee convener Paul Martin said: "The evidence we heard from the auditor general about the serious governance weaknesses in voluntary severance arrangements at the former Coatbridge College suggested a deeply-flawed decision-making process that benefited certain senior members of staff.

"As a committee, we were left with no alternative but to hold an inquiry and get answers to the questions that we - and many others - have about what went on at Coatbridge regarding severance arrangements for senior members of staff.

"I expect all those we are inviting to give evidence to do so. Only then can we get answers and consider if any further steps need to be taken."

The committee also expects to hear from others including the Scottish Funding Council, members of the college remuneration committee, internal and external auditors, the former director of finance and the former head of HR at the college, the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator and the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning over the course of three sessions in the next few weeks.