Around 20 staff, with decades of experience, will exit Tyne Coast College today, confirmed the University and College Union (UCU).
The departures come after Tyne Coast College management told staff many would lose their jobs in a bid to make cuts of up to £1 million with more cuts still threatened for the summer.
UCU regional support official Jon Bryan said: 'Today will be a sad day for many people across the college, as staff with bags of experience will leave work for home for the last time today. Many of those leaving have between 20 and 30 years of experience of working in further education, and it is likely that will be lost forever.
'For those colleagues that remain, and for the students who are just over halfway through the academic year, the instability and demoralisation that this will cause is difficult to measure. The college owes a debt of gratitude to those it has pressured to leave, but there will be no fanfare for them.
