The governing body of the University of West of Scotland met last week,with members voting 19 to 1 in favour of closing the nurseries inHamilton, Lanarkshire, and Paisley, Renfrewshire in August.
A university spokesperson said that the nurseries would be replaced witha new funding scheme which could be used to provide childcare supportfor double the number of students across all of the university's fourcampuses, including those in Ayr and Dumfries.
He added, 'The university has developed a detailed action plan to assistnursery staff as well as parents of children currently using thenurseries through the transition to the new arrangement. All staffcurrently employed in university nurseries will be considered forredeployment and the university will also seek to identify suitablealternative childcare for the children of students currently using theon-site facilities who require nursery facilities for the next academicyear.'
Wendy Logan from the Hamilton Students Association, who has campaignedagainst the closures, said, 'Representatives from the students'association were given five minutes to speak at the meeting, but all thepoints they raised were ignored. It was a complete whitewash. It's acost-cutting exercise - there's no other way to describe it.'
Sheila Davies, manager of the Paisley nursery, said, 'How can theyredeploy nursery staff in a university? It's a pity that no-oneconsulted the stakeholders - the students had to ask if they couldattend the governors' meeting.
'The university has behaved in a very underhand manner and they do notrealise how many lives they are affecting. There were two parents herein tears yesterday, saying they would have to drop out of theircourses.'
Paul Manson, whose wife Melissa studies midwifery at the university, andwhose three-year-old son attends the Paisley nursery, said, 'My wife isdevastated. We are extremely worried as to whether we will be able tofind the right wraparound care. It's causing her a lot of stress whenshe should concentrating on her studies.'
