{"id":145776,"date":"2025-05-31T03:29:15","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T03:29:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/145776\/"},"modified":"2025-05-31T03:29:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T03:29:15","slug":"the-manchester-factor-meaning-students-are-turned-away-from-colleges-in-their-hundreds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/145776\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u2018Manchester factor\u2019 meaning students are turned away from colleges in their HUNDREDS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s not the end of this issue\u201dLTE08776_001_Estates_Interiors_Photography_2022(Image: LTE Group)<\/p>\n

Greater Manchester colleges are facing an \u2018acute\u2019 \u00a320m problem that isn\u2019t going anywhere, Andy Burnham<\/a> has warned.<\/p>\n

Colleges across the city do not have physical space, staff or equipment to cater for all the students who apply, so hundreds are missing out on studying the courses they want.<\/p>\n

It means school headteachers worry where their year 11s will end up, and college headteachers fear they can\u2019t keep up with demand.<\/p>\n

The latest estimates suggest \u20186,000-7,000\u2019 extra places \u2018for 16-18 year olds will be needed in the coming years\u2019 in both academic and technical colleges, and \u00a320m has been set aside to try and meet that demand.<\/p>\n

But colleges are already turning students away in their hundreds.<\/p>\n

Last year, LTE Group, which runs The Manchester College, the city\u2019s largest with 6,000 students, said the situation is \u2018the most significant set of issues for our young people since the 1980s\u2019.<\/p>\n

It turned away 200 teenagers in 2024, and believed that would rise to 340 this year, and soar to 600 annually by the end of the decade.<\/p>\n

Although seen across Greater Manchester, the issue is \u2018particularly acute\u2019 in Manchester itself, the mayor said on Friday (May 30).<\/p>\n

That\u2019s partly down to a 148pc rise in applications to The Manchester College, which added last year it saw \u2018parents choosing to move house into Manchester to secure a place on the college course\u2019.<\/p>\n

LTE08309 – Estates – City Campus Manchester April 2022(Image: LTE Group)<\/p>\n

But Manchester also \u2018imports\u2019 students from neighbouring boroughs, so much so \u2018nearly half of Manchester colleges\u2019 students do not reside in Manchester\u2019, Bury<\/a> council leader Eamonn O\u2019Brien said.<\/p>\n

Coun O\u2019Brien was speaking at a meeting of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), chaired by Mr Burnham, where leaders approved a new \u00a320M plan to combat the issue.<\/p>\n

Half of this cash came from the government, and the other half is \u2018recycled\u2019 money from existing GMCA budgets.<\/p>\n

It will be spent ‘looking at how we provide additional places at colleges\u2019 and not \u2018just physical teaching space\u2019, he said. They will also assess \u2018what needs are in the system around workforce and equipment\u2019.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWe are going to need more spaces. We are going to need more teachers. We are going to need to look at equipment people have access to.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, both Coun O\u2019Brien and Mr Burnham warned the \u00a320M is not the final fix for Greater Manchester\u2019s college place crisis, with the mayor summarising: \u201cIt\u2019s not the end of this issue. It\u2019s helpful but there\u2019s more to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s not the end of this issue\u201dLTE08776_001_Estates_Interiors_Photography_2022(Image: LTE Group) Greater Manchester colleges are facing an \u2018acute\u2019 \u00a320m problem…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145777,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[8916,748,2266,393,4884,2465,62721,485,285,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-145776","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-andy-burnham","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-education","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-manchester","14":"tag-manchester-college","15":"tag-manchester-family","16":"tag-politics","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114600330199415510","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}