Angry students waved placards outside Basildon College in protest against cuts.

The demonstration is the latest in a series of flare-ups over the axing of up to 45 staff jobs.

Earlier this month students marched through the town in a revolt against college principal Chris Chapman, who has put forward the plans.

A member of staff at the college, who did not want to be named, said Thursday's protest was by a separate body of students, angry at the student union's stance on the issue.

He said: "A lot of the students felt they hadn't been consulted by the union with regards to the march. There was a suggestion the march was lecturer-orientated and students were cajoled into it."

The college - ranked as one of the worst in the country in 1997/98 - says it must reduce staff by a third to cope with a shift in demand for traditional courses to more modern subjects.

Engineering, trade skills, and other traditional courses will continue, but demand for them is being overtaken by others, such as IT, leisure, hairdressing and beauty.

Those against the changes blame redundancies on increasing use of learning facilitators - staff with relevant industrial background, but with no teaching training, and on low pay.

Scott Mabey, marketing manager for the college, said yesterday's demo was not sanctioned by the students' union and involved a minority of students.

He said: "We are having to streamline courses because there is no demand for certain subjects."

Protest - some of the students made their views clear at a demo outside the college

Picture: ROBIN WOOSEY

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