COLLEGE staff across the country are bracing themselves for a wave of job losses as the Scottish Government steps up plans for a radical shake-up of the sector.

Education Secretary Michael Russell has written to college principals inviting them to apply for a share of £15 million to help pay for redundancy schemes.

Mr Russell has made it clear he expects bids by the end of February as colleges are put under increasing pressure to bring forward merger proposals.

The minister has previously insisted change can be implemented without compulsory redundancies, but colleges have said that may not be possible.

In November last year, John Swinney, the Finance Secretary, announced cuts of £74m for colleges.

As a result, the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), which distributes public money to higher and further education on behalf of the Government, has seen its college budget drop from £545m last year to £471m in 2014/15.

At the same time, Mr Russell asked colleges to draw up plans for a series of mergers along regional groupings. He believes radical reform of the sector is long overdue, will improve the quality of courses and will deliver significant savings.

However, colleges and lecturers' unions argue change is being forced upon them too quickly and that cuts will damage courses and lead to more than a thousand job losses.

In his letter to college principals, Mr Russell said the pot of £15m would largely be spent on funding redundancy packages. The letter states: "The fund will primarily be used to fund voluntary redundancy schemes to deliver the staffing changes needed for mergers or, in some cases, strong federations and realise the associated efficiency gains.

"In common with the practice previously adopted by the SFC in supporting mergers, we will fund only those proposals that realise savings after one year.

"Colleges will remain able to add their own resource – for example, from their reserves – to make for more attractive schemes."

Mr Russell said that, because the fund is only available in 2012/13, priority would be given to colleges that could make the "earliest savings".

"Colleges that have already made a formal commitment to merge in 2012/13, who have robust merger plans, and who can provide evidence of progress on wider aspects of regionalisation - are well placed to apply for funding," he said.

John Spencer, convener of Scotland's Colleges, which represents college principals, said: "We welcome the transformation fund to support the reform process, but want to make sure that the pace of change and the support that is made available are realistic to achieve success.

"We now know that proposals to use this fund have to be submitted within the next month. We are concerned this could lead to rushed decision making in order to meet the deadline, and not the needs of students.

"We understand the Cabinet Secretary doesn't want to see compulsory redundancies within the sector, and we agree, yet it's hard to see how there can be a guarantee they will be avoided.

"More than 800 staff left via a voluntary agreement last year, and it would be difficult to see that occur again; not least because those who wanted to leave have likely left."

Robin Parker, president of NUS Scotland, said: "Students will be worried about what job losses might mean for their colleges and welcome any money that will reduce the likelihood of compulsory redundancies for lecturers.

"Students need firm assurance from Government and principals these cuts won't mean increased class sizes, decreased contact hours and cut courses."