All aboard! FE future rides on the buses

Institutions in the south west are creating a united front - but they are not necessarily all doing the same thing.

Competition for further education students is fierce in the south west. Many areas have a high concentration of colleges and school sixth forms, all fighting for a slice of a growing post-16 market.

In contrast, there are some remote rural areas with very little further education. People rely on transport provided by local authorities and colleges to get students to distant study centres. The ability to attract students from a wide area is the key to survival for colleges. Last academic year there were 207,000 further education students in the region.

According to Alan Stanhope, principal of Cornwall College in Redruth, this means the effectiveness of transport systems now has the biggest impact on student choices. "Quality is no longer an issue. To be successful, your courses have either to be the nearest, the easiest and cheapest to reach, or unique locally," he said.

A funding council analysis of factors which colleges in the south west see as the greatest threat to their strategic plans placed competition from schools and other colleges and cuts in local authority funding for transport as the biggest risks. About 90 per cent of colleges cited competition from schools as a risk factor - 21 per cent higher than the national average; 70 per cent saw competition from other colleges as a threat - 9 per cent higher than nationally; while nearly 60 per cent thought changes in local authority transport policies could upset their plans - 12 per cent higher than colleges across the country.

Although the Further Education Funding Council for England's south west regional committee is predicting a 10 per cent increase in the number of 16 to 18-year-olds in the region over the next three years, colleges may face a tougher time drawing these students in. A growing number of schools are providing courses leading to General National Vocational Qualificiations.

The regional committee also warns that colleges will have to take on a greater number of adult students if they are to achieve their planned growth of 20 per cent over three years.

But Justin Togher, principal of the City of Bath College, thinks these pressures could be eased if the funding council were to play a more pro-active planning role at the regional level. "There should be a blueprint which shows what kind of provision there should be in the area, rather than just letting market forces take control," he said.

With 12 colleges in the Bristol and Bath area, Mr Togher feels it is overcrowded as it is. Certain kinds of expensive provision are being squeezed out as a result, he says. Last year his college was forced to close its engineering courses because it could not fill enough places to cover costs. "We will see more closures and mergers unless something is done to control the competition," he predicted.

There has been only one merger recently, between Brunel College of Arts and Technology and South Bristol College, to form the City of Bristol College. According to Edward Sallis, the vice principal, rationalisation is inevitable.

"If you put private training providers, school sixth forms and FE institutions all together, I think we are in danger of not providing well because no one can achieve the critical mass of students needed to fund the courses properly," he said.

Even colleges in areas where there are fewer institutions are affected. Bill Hill, principal of St Austell College, says colleges are "raiding" students from distant areas by offering free transport. His institution is prepared to spend up to Pounds 200,000 a year on buses.

Information technology may provide the answer as colleges set up local learning centres equipped with computer link-ups. St Austell College has already experimented with such systems, working with three other institutions to set up a Cornwall Open Learning System which attracted Competitiveness funding from the Government.