The management of the University of the Highlands and Islands has announced that it intends to cut 16 jobs at its executive office.
The move is part of efforts to make savings in the region of £2 million pounds prompting the University and College Union to say this would be a devastating blow to staff affected and would impact the quality of education being provided.
Union members are being balloted on strike action over the compulsory redundancies with the union being worried that more redundancies might follow in future. A spokesperson for UHI said the University, which is situated at 48 locations throughout the Highlands and Islands, is taking proactive measures to secure long term financial stability. The current ballot closes on 7th October.
Around 160 pupils from schools across Ross-shire attended a careers day event at Ullapool High School last week promoted by employers, training providers and researchers from the aquaculture industry.
The event was part of an ongoing programme giving young people a closer look at how Scotland’s salmon farms operate and the variety of roles available. Salmon farming offers more than 100 roles, from freshwater and seawater operations to fish health, environmental regulation, sales and marketing, logistics, finance, IT and human resources, and is recruiting at all levels from school leavers to graduates.
Around 12,500 people across Scotland depend on the sector, including 565 directly employed in the Highlands. Pupils from Gairloch and Kinlochbervie were among those attending the event in Ullapool.
Torridon Youth Hostel is celebrating 50 years of operation and has welcomed back Rick Worrell who was one of the first users of the facility when he checked in while on a solo cycle tour of the Highlands in September 1975.
Torridon is one of 29 youth hostels run by Hostelling Scotland, a not-for-profit charity set up in 1931 and which now has a network which includes 24 affiliated hostels. Each year, more than 350,000 people visit these hostels which generates £9 million pounds in turnover and contributes an estimated £25 million pounds to local economies.
