Chichester College Group chief executive Shelagh Legrave discusses funding challenges during pandemic

Under normal circumstances, over the past twelve months we would have welcomed more than 1,000 international students to our colleges.

We would have delivered some 50,000 English exams to students in countries across the world. We would have supplied a huge range of commercial and professional courses to those working in our local community, supporting our local economy in doing so.

However, this has not been a normal year. Almost none of this has been possible since March 2020 and the effect this has had on the Group’s financial position has been

significant.

In years gone by, our international and commercial business has frequently helped to boost The Group’s accounts, filling gaps created by consistent underfunding from Government.

In the past eleven years, there has been just one increase in the base rate funding for 16-18 year olds and funding for adult education has been reduced. In real terms, this has meant funding has been systematically cut, while operating costs rise.

The further impact of the pandemic has left my colleagues and I in the difficult position of looking at how we can continue to deliver the education and training young people across Sussex need with a significantly reduced budget.

Costs have risen as has inflation. While we do not believe money should come before education, the world itself doesn’t quite work that way. Our staff’s wages need to be paid, as

do the bills and all other non-pay costs.

It is for this reason, and this reason alone, that we are forced to find new ways to deliver core courses, including English and maths GCSEs – an area that we are currently consulting with staff on a restructure We have already made savings in non-curriculum areas too.

We are open to ideas and investigating new avenues. But, ultimately, we have to make savings to ensure we are financially sound in years to come and to ensure we can continue

our commitment to the young people in our community.

It is not easy, and this is not a position we would have hoped to be in. But we remain totally committed to giving our students the best possible educational experience, equipping them

with the skills and knowledge they need to obtain their qualifications and progress into employment or onto further study at university.

Students are at the heart of everything we do, as Ofsted reflected when they judged us to be Outstanding following an inspection in March 2020.

Even though, like so many, we have to save money, we will never lose our absolute focus on our students and on changing their lives through learning.