Students furious at a decision to axe their course have staged a mass rally outside a college.
The group, which has already launched a petition in protest at the controversial move, declared their objections outside Fife College’s Dunfermline campus on Wednesday.
It follows a move by the college to cancel its full time automotive programmes, which include lessons on vehicle maintenance and body repair and can lead to apprenticeships or full-time work in the industry.
The students were joined by members of Unite the Union, who pledged their support against what they termed yet another example of austerity-max.
College management has said falling numbers of students applying for the courses and a limited number of employment opportunities locally had led to the decision.
The cost of providing the programmes was also a factor, it said.
The online petition was launched by student Dawnah Selfridge last month and has already gained more than 1,000 signatures.
She said the loss of the course would affect a lot of students and would be a blow for the automotive industry.
Dawnah, who is nearing the end of her first year on the three-year course, said there were 180 people in each year.
The 28-year-old added: “I know of kids who have left school and signed their leavers’ forms thinking they were getting on this course and now it’s been cancelled.”
A college spokesperson said the decision had been taken after a review of the automotive offering and confirmed there would be no full-time automotive programmes delivered after the current academic year.
The last intake of first year modern apprentices will be in 2016/17 and these programmes will run until completion in 2019/20.
“The delivery of these programmes will be centralised in our Stenton campus, Glenrothes,” she said.
The spokesperson added: “As a regional college, we need to ensure that the courses we deliver meet the needs of students, employers and the local economy, offer a high quality learning experience and provide opportunities for students to progress to employment or further study once they have completed their course.”