This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Good news comes in threes for FE
10/06/2005
A fundamental and wide ranging review of further
education in Scotland was announced today.
In his final speech as Minister for Lifelong Learning,
Jim Wallace indicated there would be four main pillars to
the review. These are:
- the contribution the sector makes to Scotland's
economy and society
- its strategic future over the next 10 to 20
years
- how governance and accountability might be
strengthened
- opportunities to modernise and improve teaching
methods and support the professionalism and development
of staff
He also announced European funding worth £2.8 million
for Borders College which will help relocation to a new
campus at Netherdale.
Finally, Mr Wallace also told delegates at the annual
conference of the Association of Scottish Colleges (ASC)
that two new colleges would be formed on August 1, 2005 as
a result of mergers between:
- Falkirk and Clackmannan Colleges to form Forth
Valley College of Further and Higher Education
- Fife and Glenrothes Colleges to form The Adam Smith
College, Fife
Mr Wallace said:
"The Further Education Review will be the most
fundamental and wide ranging review of the college sector
Scotland has ever seen. And having spoken to the
Association, the STUC, the Funding Council and the National
Union of Students, we have decided that there will be four
main pillars of the review.
"Crucially, it will examine in detail the contribution
which the sector makes to Scotland's economy and society.
The review will also consider FE's strategic future over
the next 10 to 20 years, taking account of changing
demographics and changing expectations. It will look again
at what we might do to further strengthen accountability
and governance. And finally, the review will look at
staffing issues, including opportunities for the
modernisation and improvement of teaching methods and for
supporting the professionalism and development of
staff.
"The object of the review will be to provide Ministers
with informed recommendations for change. Scottish
Executive staff will support the review. But it will be
essentially the sector's own review. It will be inclusive,
free-thinking and dynamic."
Mr Wallace said the funding for the relocation of
Border's College was a "very exciting development".
He added:
"More and more, I see huge improvements in Further
Education facilities and buildings. These are the results
of investment decisions which reflect the substantial
priority we are now giving to improving the college estate
after many years of neglect in years gone by. Modern,
impressive colleges encourage people to start learning and
to stay learning. This is success worth celebrating."
Finally, on the proposed college mergers, Mr Wallace
said:
"On August 1, I will establish Forth Valley College of
Further and Higher Education, boosting the availability and
quality of further education to the people of the Forth
Valley. A new college which will be driven forward by the
spirit and the resources of Falkirk and Clackmannan
Colleges, who will merge. On the same date - 1 August - I
will establish The Adam Smith College, Fife which will be
the culmination of many years of close collaboration
between Fife and Glenrothes Colleges.
"A great deal of hard work by the staff of all four
colleges has gone into creating the circumstances for what
I am sure will be two successful mergers."
Ministers are committed to undertaking a further review
of further education governance and accountability. The
previous review, which reported in 2003, looked
specifically at governance and accountability in the FE
sector. The report contained a package of measures aimed at
modernising standards of governance and accountability and
included a commitment to take a fresh look at the subject
during 2005.
Work is progressing between Borders Community College
and Heriot-Watt University to co-locate on the Netherdale
campus in Galashiels. An application to the South of
Scotland ERDF Objective 2 Programme has been approved for
an award of ERDF investment of up to £2,821,568 to support
this development. The development consists of a new build
at, and the refurbishment of part of the existing
Heriot-Watt University campus at Netherdale, Galashiels.
The application also involves the creation of a new
Community Learning Centre College in Hawick which will
replace the existing Henderson Building and include the
Knitwear Design and Technical Centre.