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Colleges in Crisis

David Cameron has promised three million new apprenticeships by 2020. But with many FE colleges facing financial black holes, can they deliver the training that will be needed?

David Cameron has promised three million new apprenticeships by 2020. But Further Education colleges must deliver them against a background of year-on-year cuts - with the axe likely to fall again in this Autumn's spending review.

The National Audit Office has warned more than a quarter of further education colleges could be deemed financially inadequate by the end of the year. And this month MPs on the Public Accounts Committee will launch an inquiry into the financial sustainability of the sector.

But how far is the crisis also a result of poor planning and excessive borrowing by colleges themselves? A File on 4 investigation finds some institutions taking increasingly desperate measures to make ends meet.

And it asks whether the sector is being adequately policed: when a college faces financial collapse, what safety nets are in place?

Reporter: Fran Abrams Producer: Ian Muir-Cochrane.

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38 minutes

Last on

Sun 18 Oct 2015 17:00

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David Cameron has promised three million new apprenticeships by 2020. But with many FE colleges facing financial black holes, can they deliver the training that will be needed?

Broadcasts

  • Tue 13 Oct 2015 20:00
  • Sun 18 Oct 2015 17:00

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