TEACHING unions have urged the new board at a crisis-hit Scottish college to investigate claims of a "bullying" culture.
The call from the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) came after Education Secretary Angela Constance sacked the former board of Glasgow Clyde College.
The minister took the unprecedented step after an eighth month stand-off following the suspension of principal Susan Walsh by board chairman George Chalmers.
The Scottish Government said the decision was taken because of "repeated incidences of board failure relating to governance, including breaches of its terms and conditions of grant".
But the EIS said allegations of a "perceived culture of fear and bullying" at the college under the leadership of Mrs Walsh, which first surfaced in February, had still not been investigated.
A spokesman said: "The announcement that the entire board, including the elected lecturing staff representative, have been removed from post and replaced came as a surprise to the EIS.
"The EIS had written to Ms Constance to highlight that a number of concerns that led to the suspension of the principal had yet to dealt with. This remains the case today." The EIS also argued the allegations of poor governance on the part of the board were "over-stated".
However, national student body NUS Scotland welcomed the appointment of a new chair and board.
Vonnie Sandlan, president of NUS Scotland, said: “Students have worked incredibly hard to get to a position where college student representation is enshrined in law and given the respect and place it deserves.
"Since the start of this year we saw those successes ignored, if not outright undermined, by the previous leadership of Glasgow Clyde College.
"While staff and students have done amazingly well to get on with the day to day work of the college, a change in leadership means the college as a whole can start afresh."
Ms Constance outlined her reasons for sacking the board in a statement to Holyrood.
She said the board had allowed its relationship with student representatives and the wider student population to deteriorate and "did nothing" to address the problem.
The board also incurred significant amounts of expenditure without seeking appropriate prior approval when it ran up bills of £200,000 seeking legal advice over the suspension and a subsequent investigation by the Scottish Funding Council, she said.
In addition, the board was accused of failing to consider "serious concerns" raised by the principal about governance matters in February "which have not been addressed".
And Ms Constance said that at important meetings the board had operated without proper agendas, without papers in advance of meetings and without minutes that recorded discussions and decisions.
The outgoing board of Glasgow Clyde College said it was "stunned" by the decision and called for a full inquiry by Holyrood's education committee.
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