COLLEGE funding should be increased rather than reduced, former BBC South political editor and old Elizabethan Bruce Parker said at last night’s Elizabeth College presentation evening.

The Policy Council has proposed that the States annual grant of £4.88m. – to Elizabeth College, Ladies’ College and Blanchelande College – be cut by £1.11m. by 2018.

But Mr Parker (pictured) said he could see no reason why the college grants should be lowered.

‘What sort of argument is it that you decide to risk damaging some of the most important assets you have – the hugely successful educational establishments, which are the colleges of the island?’ he said. ‘When you have a business or an institution that is successful, you don’t cut investment, you increase it.’

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