Devon college discontinues all degree-awarding courses
A board meeting last week at Schumacher College decided to stop all Bachelor of Science, Masters and postgraduate courses over financial woes
A college here in Devon has closed its doors with immediate effect.
A board meeting last week at Schumacher College decided to stop all Bachelor of Science, Masters and postgraduate courses
They were already closed to new students - but bosses are blaming 'significant monthly losses' and limited reserves - with the nearly 50 students now being supported to find alternatives.
In a statement, the Dartington Trust said: "Schumacher College, which has been supported by Dartington Hall Trust (DHT) since 1991, has discontinued its degree awarding courses with immediate effect.
"The Schumacher College Foundation, wholly owned by DHT, decided at a board meeting on 27 August 2024 to close all BSc, MA and PGDip courses presently supported by University of Plymouth. The courses were already closed to new students.
"Schumacher College continues to incur substantial monthly losses and Dartington is unable to underwrite this deficit indefinitely from its limited reserves. The Dartington Board continues to consider viable options for the College to sustain itself, including a proposal from the College’s learning leadership team to secure independence from Dartington, as well as continuation of financially viable, unaccredited courses.
"Some 46 students were expected to continue into the 2024/25 academic year with Schumacher and will now be supported to find alternatives, if that is their wish. Teaching staff are supporting 58 other students who are almost at the end of their programme to complete the last academic year, but where some dissertations may be outstanding, marking is to be completed or resits are to be arranged.
"The college’s Learning Leadership team has, for some months, been reviewing and considering the accommodation and resource footprint for the delivery of Dartington’s learning provision. However, shorter, unaccredited courses planned by Schumacher for 2024/25 have met with poor bookings."
'It is with great regret that this decision has had to be made'
Robert Fedder, acting CEO of Dartington, said: “It is with great regret that this decision has had to be made in a very short space of time. The priority is to support every student affected in achieving the best possible outcome for alternative course arrangements or an agreed withdrawal.”
We know that most of the 33 staff members at the college are now under a 30-day consultation period for redundancy - and we also know it's been difficult for the Trust to make money for some time now, with the position reportedly being reached last autumn, when they rose the prospect of appointing administrators.
Mr Fedder added: “While part of Dartington’s historical role as a charitable trust has been to provide financial support to its long-established learning activities, in this case Schumacher, even when they are unable to break even, the commitment does not extend to risking the future of the whole trust and estate.”
The Trust add that Schumacher remains their largest loss maker.
Mr Fedder continued: “There is a long-held misconception among some stakeholders that DHT’s historic attractions and commercial activities, which have clearly faced their own financial challenges, solely exist to fund perennial losses in its educational interests. This is absolutely not the case. Trust staff have worked extremely hard in the last 12 months to secure a sustainable future for the estate.
“Cash outflows of the magnitude presented by Schumacher are an area of very high risk for the Trust, which ultimately still has to maintain, at great cost, several listed buildings and gardens of important historical interest.”
Any students who, for whatever reason, may not have received a direct communication are urged to make contact with Dartington immediately for further guidance on next steps by emailing studentconsult@dartington.org.