A DECISION by Swindon College boss Mike Hopkins to quit his post a month after announcing 150 job losses has been condemned by a union.

Lecturers' union NATFHE has likened his departure to a captain fleeing a sinking ship.

He left the college two weeks ago to be the deputy chief executive of the agency which funds further education in Wales.

Nova Gresham, of NATFHE the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education claims Mr Hopkins promised he would see the decision through personally.

She said: "I am disappointed at his decision because at earlier meetings he gave us an assurance he would see it all through.

"It reminds me of a saying about sinking ships.

"He's left the college with no leadership."

Mr Hopkins said the job cuts, announced in March, were down to changes in teaching methods.

But unions say the cuts are needed because the college has £1.2 million debts.

Ms Gresham is now calling for a re-think of the plans to introduce Task Based Learning.

The college, which employs 1,100 staff and has 15,000 students, intends to introduce the new style of teaching in September.

It requires less teaching staff because greater emphasis is placed on individual research, using IT.

"We said from the start that this way of teaching wasn't feasible with leadership," said Ms Gresham.

"But it's going to be even less feasible now."

College spokeswoman Amanda Burnside defended the former principal, who starts his job with Monmouth-based Education and Learning on May 1.

"He made his statement about seeing the changes through with integrity, but an opportunity arose for him to further his career which was too great to turn down," she said.

"He thought long and hard about the decision. If a career opportunity is presented, it is an individual's right to accept it."

She said Mr Hopkins had left the college with plans for the future.

"The development plan for the new teaching system was in its final phase, and will been seen through by the senior management team," she said.

Tamash Lal