UPDATE: 12.38pm

COLEG Gwent is set to lose 6,000 students because of the cuts, a teaching union said today.

The University and College Union told the Argus the Further Education college would provide 50,000 fewer teaching hours as a direct result of the cuts.

Around 60 lecturers face redundancy plus 70 support staff including technicians and caretakers, the union added.

UCU Coleg Gwent branch chairman Ian Whitehead-Ross, 29, said: "This is going to have a detrimental impact on community education across Gwent.

"These cuts will affect the heart and soul of Coleg Gwent and provide a challenging climate to education."

UPDATE: 12.05pm

A TEACHING union boss has warned the multi-million pound cuts to Coleg Gwent risked devastating further education.

Philip Dixon, the director of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers union for Wales, said: "These cuts are being felt in every Further Education college in Wales because of savage cuts of funding by the Welsh Government.

"Further education is being devastated by this level of cuts imposed by the Welsh Government.

"We are going to see the loss of expertise in that system and a loss of skills.

"Lots of people affected by these cuts are older students and women students, people who are non traditional learners.

"This is a way back into education for them and this is being taken away."

9am:

COLEG Gwent has announced that there will be cuts to part time courses and a possibility of 130 job losses as it seeks to save £5.7 million.

Staff and Trade Unions were informed yesterday of the proposed cuts and changes to the college’s curriculum which could mean axing most part time college and community courses from September 2015.

The college is now in a 45 day consultation period and they say they will work closely with staff and Trade Unions to try to avoid compulsory redundancies.

They say the cuts are a direct result of the £29.9 million funding cuts by the Welsh Government within the further education sector in Wales. The Welsh Government has reduced funding for part time courses by 50 per cent for 2015 and reduced all other funding by 2.6 per cent.

Those affected by the proposed cuts include more than 3000 adult learners in the Community Education programmes which are run in partnership with the Gwent local authorities, 2,500 part time adult learners and 1,000 evening class learners.

The college has said full time courses will not be directly affected.

Jim Bennett , the principal of Coleg Gwent, said: “These are very large cuts in our funding, and if they continue in the future, even though we are a strong college, the result will be the loss of all part time and adult learning with the exception of a small amount in priority areas such as literacy and numeracy.

“This is devastating for all those adults wanting to reskill, upskill or enhance their career prospects, and to those who need a second chance of a good education. The effects on our communities, especially the more vulnerable ones, will be felt for a long time.”

He added: “This is also upsetting and demoralizing for our staff who provide great teaching and high levels of support to our learners. Staff are clearly shocked and upset by these cuts and we are doing our best to ensure effective communication and consultation with them and the Trade Unions to avoid compulsory redundancies wherever possible.”

A Welsh Government spokesman said they are working closely with colleges on the potential impacts of the reduced budget 2015/16 for further education colleges.

He said: “It is important, however, to recognise that we are protecting FE funding for 16-18 year olds as we appreciate the importance of further education in the drive to reduce the number of young people not in employment, education or training.

“We have been open with FE colleges in our discussions with them. It is now more important than ever that we focus not just on the resources that are available but how we use them and what we achieve.”