Quarter of colleges 'at risk'

NEARLY a quarter of London's further education colleges are on the funding council's financially "at risk" list. Most of the 12 colleges, many covering the capital's poorest areas, are working to recovery plans in a bid to redress deficits. Hundreds of lecturing jobs are threatened.

Some London principals believe that the funding council may allow one or more of the weakest colleges to collapse with provision being redistributed. The FEFC said: "We have no plan or covert agenda to close colleges in London; on the other hand it is well known that a number of colleges in London are under considerable pressure. At the end of the day the fate of colleges depends on their bankers."