THE quality of education at Scottish colleges is being damaged by an agreement allowing the length of courses to be cut, union leaders have warned.

Concerns have been raised after a deal between the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and college principals allowing teaching time on full-time vocational courses to be reduced from 720 to 640 hours a year.

The move is part of attempts by colleges to protect student numbers while coping with budget cuts of 10%.

However, the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) union insists the arrangement is damaging the quality of education students receive.

David Belsey, national officer for further education for the EIS, has now written to the SFC to raise his concerns. “The students are being taught for less time, yet doing the same qualifications as before, placing more pressure on staff and students,” he said.

“I know of one college where full-time students only attend the college for two days a week.”

Mr Belsey also said the EIS had “grave concerns” the policy was piling more pressure on staff already trying to cope with 1000 job losses last year.

“The workload and workplace stresses of our members have increased enormously and many are beginning to suffer,” he added.

Robin Parker, president of NUS Scotland, echoed the concerns. The student union leader said: “In light of the massive new cuts proposed for colleges it is extremely worrying that last year’s cut has already resulted in a reduction in contact hours for students.”

Ken Macintosh, education spokesman for the Scottish Labour Party, said: “The SNP has followed up last year’s funding cut by slashing college budgets still further and the impact is predictable.

“Either more lecturers will lose their jobs, students will lose places or the quality of their education will suffer. It looks like all three are happening.”

However, the SFC said it was up to colleges to decide how long courses lasted. A spokeswoman said: “The changes recognise the increasing flexibility in how courses have been designed to best meet students’ and employers’ needs and has no impact on the design of individual qualifications, or on what colleges need to deliver to students.

“Ultimately, it remains the role of colleges to determine the length and content of the courses they offer.”

John Spencer, convener of the promotional body Scotland’s Colleges, said: “Not all colleges and courses used this flexibility – it was done where considered appropriate, or in the context of curriculum changes, and the protection of the learner experience was paramount in those decisions.

“With a proposed 13% real terms cut to college budgets next year, we believe places and quality are both under threat, and such flexibility would not be expected to offset those.

“The SFC is developing a different model of college funding, and we will approach this issue with interest as part of our discussions on the impact the changes may have.”

The cut in teaching time dates from last November’s guidance from Education Secretary Michael Russell asking the SFC to “ensure that it enables [colleges] to introduce more efficient methods of teaching whilst still delivering qualifications”.

In response, the SFC amended its guidance on what constituted a full-time course, with a resultant reduction in the minimum number of credits that had to be offered for a course to qualify as full time.