Jobs at risk at AOC Nordwin College
Due to financial problems, the Frisian Nordwin College has been placed under stricter supervision by the Education Inspectorate. The interim administration wants to cut several dozen jobs.
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The agricultural training center that provides green education to 3400 VMBO and MBO students in Sneek, Leeuwarden and Heerenveen has been messy for a while. Such was the supervisory board and director Ton Stierhout opposite to each other in court, after Stierhout was sent home at the end of last year because of a difference of opinion about the future of the school. After years of growth, Nordwin College is facing declining student numbers.
Suprised
At the beginning of this year, the Supervisory Board appointed interim director Ilona Dulfer, who will send an improvement plan to the Education Inspectorate this week. She wants to cut "somewhere between fifteen and twenty-five" full-time jobs without redundancies, she tells the Leeuwarder Courant, so that black numbers will be written again after this year.
De AOb has been informed globally for the weekend, but AObdistrict manager Hayo Bohlken has not yet seen anything in black and white. "Many questions could not be answered yet. They were still busy getting the current data together," says Bohlken. "So I am a bit surprised about the statements in the newspaper."
A follow-up meeting is scheduled for April 25. A member meeting will be held around that time to further inform staff. Bohlken believes a plan must be put on the table to deal with the consequences of the cutbacks. “It involves a large number of jobs.”
A plan needs to be put on the table to deal with the consequences of the cutbacks AObdistrict manager Hayo Bohlken
Deficiency
Last year it became clear that the operating loss for 2017 would turn out to be much greater than expected. Adjusted figures that the inspection pointed out a deficit of more than three percent, where initially a minus of one percent was expected. The budget also went into the red for 2018 and later.
In 2016, Nordwin College went into serious debt by taking out 7,5 million euros in loans intended to invest in housing. Those loans must be repaid in 2025.
The debt burden suddenly increased the bank balance, but deteriorated solvency (an indication of long-term financial health). In addition, since that year the institution has a loan of 2,2 million euros, which would allow the school to temporarily cover a balance shortfall.
