Warning over budget cuts for Scotland's colleges BUSINESS leaders have raised concerns about cuts being made to Scotland's further education sector amid warnings from colleges that student numbers have fallen by 80,000 in the past two years. The Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI) is among the bodies which will tomorrow warn MSPs on the Scottish Parliament's education committee that cuts to college budgets are harming the country's economy and jobs market. Meanwhile, the body representing the further education sector, Scotland's Colleges, has warned of falling staff and student numbers and has called for more funding to carry through mergers as part of the Scottish Government's regionalisation strategy. The country's colleges are currently undergoing a transformation which will see institutions merged and re-organised around 13 regional boards. But while universities have seen an increase in the amount of funding they receive from the Scottish Government, colleges are currently seeing their budgets cut. In its submission to tomorrow's committee meeting, the SCDI expresses its concern about college budgets, despite finance secretary John Swinney announcing an extra £17m for student support in last month's budget. "The additional funding announced for colleges goes some way towards rectifying the large cuts made to the sector in last year's budget," the submission states. SCDI members remain concerned that despite this increase, the long-term trend for college funding is a substantial cut. It is important that colleges are able to maintain both student numbers and the quality of education, particularly over this challenging economic period. Scotland's Colleges said it expected to see a reduction in revenue of £113m between 2010/11 and 2014/15, with a £6.6m fall in the core teaching budget for this year. The organisation said the "strong downward trend for teaching funds" was a concern in terms of "retaining student numbers, breadth of curriculum and quality of teaching."