Cirencester College to close business school and axe beauty therapy courses
JOBS will be lost as Cirencester College closes its business school and axes beauty therapy courses.
The sixth form education provider is making the move in a bid to save £300,000, with 11 redundancies to be made as it stops teaching NVQ beauty students.
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regret: Kim Clifford, principal of Cirencester College, which is having to make cuts
Although the business school will close, a 30-day consultation period is under way with staff to see which aspects of the courses can continue.
This summer the college for more than 2,000 students aged 16 to 19 will close its Castle base at Cecily Hill and open new classrooms at Fosse Way, in a move which will save £120,000 a year.
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A memo to staff from college principal Kim Clifford said: "After a 30 day consultation process, which failed to produce alternative and/or more viable methods of delivering the beauty therapy NVQ courses, it is with real regret the decision has been taken to end this provision from July 2013.
"The beauty therapy staff have all been notified of this decision and the HR department is now working with all staff involved.
"After a great deal of discussion and with close attention to past and present profit and loss and gross contribution margins we have decided to close the business school.
"It is with real sadness we have made this decision at this time."
The business school was making a £200,000 loss in 2010, compared to being £25,000 in the red in 2012, and running with a staffing bill of £750,000 a year.
College chiefs had needed to make £650,000 in savings to pay back funding it was granted in 2008/09, but an increase in students brought in £350,000 – leaving it having to make £300,000 in cuts to balance its books.
Assistant principal Libby Reed said students who are halfway through a course will be able to complete their studies at the college.
She said: "The business school is still under a 30 day consultation of negotiations and talks to see which areas will remain in place."
"The 16 to 19 professional education will continue.
"We will not be cutting 16 to 19 provisions unless the Government come in with even more stringent cuts.
"We want to grow higher education provisions and we are taking on new skills and apprenticeships partners and lots of very exciting and positive things are happening. But we are a business and we need to be viable.
"We need to be financially prudent as we are using public money, but it is not as bleak as the document looks."
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