Belfast Met to cut thousands of student places amid budget absence
BBCBelfast Metropolitan College (BMC) has made "unprecedented" cuts of 2,500 student places and cancelled a range of courses.
In a statement, a college spokesperson said that the deadlock over a Stormont budget was partially responsible.
The executive has been unable to agree a budget and has appealed to the government for more money.
But, according to Belfast Met, that has meant that Further Education (FE) Colleges have had a £33m cut in funding.
BMC alone has had a cut of £6.8m in funding compared to 2025/26.
As a result they have cut planned student enrolments by over 2,500 - from around 19,100 students to around 16,500.
Adult learning, evening and leisure courses have been especially affected.
Which courses have been cut?
According to Belfast Met, they have had to make reductions to a number of programmes.
That includes English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) classes, which especially help newcomers to Northern Ireland learn English.
The college has withdrawn GCSEs in French and Spanish and cut GCSE English courses.
Evening A-Level classes, targeted at adult learners, have also been reduced.
Essential skills classes. which often help students get qualifications in English, Maths and IT have been reduced, along with some community education programmes.
Evening leisure courses in subjects like DIY Joinery, Bird Watching, Jewellery Making, and Tai Chi have also been cut.
That in turn has meant that work for part-time staff has been reduced.
What has the reaction been?
Belfast councillor Brian Smyth of the Green Party told BBC News NI that he had been contacted by a number of constituents whose classes at Belfast Met had been cancelled.
"It seems to be fairly unprecedented, over 2,500 student placements have been cut," he said.
"That's directly linked to Stormont's inability to put together a budget.
"I believe it's disproportionately going to impact the most on women looking to get back into the workforce, young people from working class backgrounds and adults seeking to retrain."
Smyth said he felt "a deep sense of frustration" as he believes that "this is going to harm Belfast's future skills pipeline.
"We keep talking about wanting to build apprenticeships, traineeships and building up the city. This is going to have a direct result and it's going to cause harm."
What has Belfast Met said?
In a statement to BBC News NI, a spokesperson for Belfast Met said that they had been given contingency funding for 2026/27 "which equates to 94% of our budget from last year.
"When considered along with other unmet pressures this has created a resource budget shortfall which is approximately £6.8 million for the college," they said.
"The College has sought wherever possible to retain provision through the consolidation of classes and cohorts rather than complete withdrawal of programmes."
BMC added that it had tried to protect qualifications that support progression into employment.
"The current situation for the college and for the sector is unprecedented, but it comes on the back of previous years of funding cuts and budget pressures which have impacted across FE, HE and part-time community programmes."
Due to the absence of an agreed budget BMC said colleges have been provided with a "contingency allocation and are having to consider cost-saving actions to live within that allocation".
South Eastern Regional College (SERC) has also cancelled a range of courses and classes, but was not able to clarify which ones when asked by BBC News NI.
