SALISBURY College principal Ray Dowd has issued an encouraging message to anxious first-year students.

Speaking exclusively to the Journal, Mr Dowd said that, despite the implementation of a comprehensive recovery plan, involving staff redundancies, cost-cutting and course shake-ups, existing students had nothing to fear.

The 52-year-old Wirral Metropolitan College head was drafted in by the college board of corporation last month, after the resignation of previous principal Howard O' Keeffe and revelations that the college was more than £1m in the red.

Mr Dowd, who has experience in salvaging troubled colleges, confirmed that the choice of subjects would remain virtually the same but under-subscribed courses would be reviewed and dropped if take-up was low.

Scaling down will take place in A-Level chemistry and physics, engineering courses at national diploma level, manufacturing and aeronautical engineering.

Mr Dowd said: "We will guarantee that students in their first year will have spaces on second-year courses.

"We also want to expand some of our areas of work - where there is a great demand is in hair and beauty and construction.

"The college is obviously looking at recruitment and, where recruitment is low, we shall not continue with these courses."

As part of the recovery plan, 21 staff have been accepted for voluntary redundancies and the head is now in consultation with unions and staff members to limit the number of compulsory job losses.

The college's outreach learning centres in Downton and Bemerton Heath will not be affected by the changes but the Amesbury facility will be closed and moved to the town's library.

Consultants have already been appointed to look at college accommodation and overall space, reporting back in late May.

The mobile learning unit, which operates in conjunction with the Lifelong Learning Partnership, will continue its vital community role, but will be handed over to another agency in order to save costs.

"The Lifelong Learning Partnership recognises that the unit makes a valuable contribution and it will definitely continue," said Mr Dowd.

Despite the changes, additional services are being launched, including the government's Free To Learn employer training pilots.

The initiative is being rolled out across the country and funded by the Learning and Skills Council, encouraging companies to train their low-skilled workforces by giving them paid time off work to learn basic numeracy and literacy skills.

From September, students will be entitled to claim educational maintenance allowance, where 16- and 17-year-olds can claim £30 a week as an incentive for attending lessons.

Past and present students are being asked for their views on how to mark the official opening of the refurbished St Mary's accommodation building.

Plans are in place to hold the opening in the coming weeks and anyone with ideas should e-mail Natalie.Heinst@

salisbury.ac.uk.