Enrolment! The Glasgow Fiasco!

"Students attack 'shambles' at merged college"

We, however, have a sense of relief that Henry is on the case so all will be well!

Enrolment changes proposed after city college 'shambles'

Some are wondering what expenses tab, if any, will be attached and of course 'the horse has bolted' on enrolments for this academic session!

However, we all know enrolment is only the tip of the iceberg, what lies underneath is the learning environment which needs class groups, classrooms and of course staff. But maybe not the new member of staff teaching Higher National in Travel and Tourism who, allegedly, had to be instructed on what a SQA Unit was.... Really? ..... Not a staff recruitment issue too?

Is it true lecturing staff in one college were "acting as telesales" an contacting prospective students?

Is it true that a 'director' at one glasgow campus was accused of being 'patronising' when commenting on reasons for no classrooms, no lecturers?

College Senior management patronising? Surely not?

We will let you judge for yourself.....

from Friday 22 August 2014

"Students come back next week and I’m hoping this will be a gentle introduction to Glasgow Clyde for them.  Let them settle in before we start making them work hard!  You may find a few rooms a bit less organised than normal.  This is due to floods and decant arrangements.  Although in Cardonald the rooms affected by the first flood are useable we can’t get them refurbished properly until the insurance assessor’s been, so apologies for that otherwise Alan and his team would have had the work completed for the students’ return."

Are all decant arrangements are due to flooding or maybe some major buidling works in one campus that only started first week of term?

"We are interviewing for staff in a number of areas so having a gentler start for students will help us deal withthe one or two areas where staff might not be fully in place.  What’s important here is that students have a good first couple of weeks with us as that sets the tone for the rest of their year.

We have a few gaps in classes so we’re going to have a Clearing Day where we open our doors and work with potential students face to face to see if we can make a difference to their lives and find a course that’s right for them.  Watch out for further information from Marketing on this."

Interestingly ..."We are interviewing for staff in a number of areas" apparently translates to "the one or two areas where staff might not be fully in place"?

and

What’s important here is that students have a good first couple of weeks with us as that sets the tone for the rest of their year.

Nuff said?

But all is not lost ... remember ... Oor Henry is on the case!

In the meantime .... for your consideration...... 

Note: in tribute to .... "Glasgow Kelvin College is a circus"  .... we used Comic Sans font while whistling the theme from Monty Python!

It should come as no surprise that we find the terms ‘shambles’, ‘chaotic’ and ‘fiasco’ used to describe the management of a Scottish Further Education college’s enrolment processes and procedures.

Why no surprise? Well let’s consider a couple of reports from 5 July, and even further back on 25 June;

The following was a report in the Herald…. 05/07/2014 and in The Correlate

Lecturers warn of recruitment crisis at newly merged college - HeraldScotland

LECTURERS have warned of a student recruitment crisis at a newly merged college.

Unions representing staff at Glasgow Kelvin College have written to members to highlight "deep concerns" over recruitment for the next academic session.

The newsletter from the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), which incorporates the Further Education Lecturers Association, said some courses were well below expected levels while others were oversubscribed.

A spokeswoman for the college accepted some issues had been encountered earlier in the year, but said recruitment levels were now where expected with some 4,500 offers made out of a total capacity of 5,000 full-time students.

A similar situation in other 'merged' colleges?

This piece came from a Not the Management Newsletter… 25/06/2014 The Kelvin Keelie

Glasgow Kelvin College - Not the Managements Newsletter?

"Reports are reaching us from across the col- lege of deep concerns about the recruitment process for 2013/14 session.
While some courses are well below target at this stage of the year, others are already over- stuffed, with the threat of serious workload issues for teaching staff next session - not to mention the impact on the learners of being crammed in like sardines - or worse still, turned away all together."

This is interesting as we have the following from a "Director" in Glasgow Clyde College.....relating to Admissions!...

"..... I know some areas are still worried about numbers, so if you haven’t already done so – can you please encourage staff to give further interview dates to Admissions for over the summer – or tell staff to let them know whether to close applications and/or send course full letters BEFORE they go off on holiday?

The phones are ringing off the hook with applicants who don’t know whether an interview will still take place and it’s torture for them to know everything will go quiet over a six week period. Complaints are coming in and it creates a very poor impression of our commitment to customer service.

Also, should we put a message on the website……"

Well - should we?

And Glasgow Clyde College’s Head of Quality and Information posted this email…

Sent: 02 September 2014 10:45
To: All Staff Anniesland
Subject: Evening Enrolments

Due to the unavailability of staff there will be no enrolments for new students at the Anniesland campus this evening.

Any new students should complete an enrolment form and the forms should be forwarded to the MIS staff based at the Lower Workshop breakout area for processing. New students should be informed that they will need to contact Shona Clyde in Finance at Anniesland during office hours for payment of fees.

Let me know if there are any groups (not individuals) that are enrolling on Thursday as there is a proposal to staff enrolments if there is demand.

From comments it appears that “unavailability of staff” is a euphemism for staff not willing or wanting to be there!

It is an interesting email in that it begins with there being no enrolments followed by instructions for students to complete an enrolment form?

We are also advised that the EIS want no involvement in this matter and can consider their position valid as it does not directly impact on their members – Yet!

However, what will be their position when members request, and are refused, additional class time to make up for those days with no classroom, no lecturer and those just sent home?

Just how many were sent home?

It appears that the nominal teaching time for an SQA Unit has been cut and cut again and when you count holidays, especially Monday and Friday classes , some students might be lucky if the see their lecturer for half the recognised face to face sessions!

Still, they have the technology and students can catch up at home! Oops! Think there have been some issues with that too!