20 years ago

Staffordshire Polytechnic is in the midst of a wrangle with the police and the county council over assets that could mean the loss of £250,000 and a library. It has asked the Education Assets Board to adjudicate on the row, which has sprung up in the wake of the Education Reform Act. It stipulates that polytechnic and college assets should transfer to institutions without compensation to local authorities ... The police have given the polytechnic six months' notice but it has refused to move ... The council now says that while it will let the polytechnic keep its reserves as it goes into independence on 1 April, it wants to keep the interest.

A successful radio journalism course for black students is under threat after a refusal by the Training Agency to continue supporting the course - the only one of its kind in the country. Just two days after being re-accredited by the Joint Committee for the Training of Radio Journalists, the Department of Employment's Training Agency notified the Polytechnic of Central London that it would no longer provide the £70,000 (needed) to run the course.