Jobs will be lost and courses cut at one of the country’s largest colleges, which has a campus in Keighley, as it seeks to make up a shortfall of more than £2 million in Government funding.

Leeds City College will cut 75 jobs and reduce adult learning courses amid the national funding crisis in further education.

College Principal Peter Roberts said it was “regrettable” that jobs would be lost due to cuts of up to four per cent.

He said: “Obviously delivering a reduced number of courses will have an impact on staffing and we anticipate that this could result in the loss of up to 75 posts across management, academic and support staff.”

A spokesman said the Keighley campus, in Cavendish Street, was expected to lose three jobs.

Julie Kelly, University College Union organiser for Yorkshire, said a funding cut of £2.1 million in the college’s adult learning budget would mainly hit people who wanted to re-train for a different career.

A spokesman for Leeds City College said the losses were expected to come from voluntary redundancies, reduced working hours and career breaks.

Mrs Kelly said: “Our members are very upset about this, particularly at the moment, when there are not a tremendous amount of opportunities in the job market.

“I think it is inevitable that there will be some impact on provision and standards will be affected.

“What they will try to do is mitigate the impact as much as they can.”

Mr Roberts said most of the college’s 2,000 students would be “broadly unaffected”.

The college could bear some of the costs by outsourcing more of its adult teaching and training courses to the private sector, he said.

“The college is able to absorb some of these cuts in a variety of ways, which will help minimise the impact on our front-line services such as courses and students,” said Mr Roberts.

Bosses are now starting a consultation with trade unions and staff. Any changes are expected to be brought in by the end of the summer term.

Meanwhile, Shipley College principal Nav Chohan said he would know by the end of the month how many staff were willing to take voluntary redundancy because of the funding crisis.

“I am desperately trying not to make forced redundancies and, at the moment, I’m hopeful that that will be the case,” he said.

e-mail: marc.meneaud@telegraphandargus.co.uk