The Scottish Government

REVIEW OF SCOTLAND'S COLLEGES [SEETLLD DCMWG-P08]

WORKING GROUP: THE DIFFERENCE COLLEGES MAKE

This paper is also available to download as a PDF file

REVISED 'STARTER' PAPER BY ASC

Purpose

1. To provide members with the revised 'Starter Paper' from the Association of Scottish Colleges (ASC).

Background

2. The Group discussed the ASC 'Starter' Paper (DCMWG-P05) at its last meeting. The ASC agreed to revise its paper to capture the points raised in the discussion.

3. The ASC's revised paper is attached.

Recommendation

4. The Group is invited to comment on the ASC paper.

Reviews Team: Scotland 's Colleges

November 2005

Review of Scotland 's Colleges

The Differences Colleges Make

Starter Paper by ASC

Scotland's Colleges play a vital role in lifelong learning for vast numbers of people in Scotland and further afield. Education and training in the Colleges makes an immense contribution to the employability, social inclusion, and quality of life of the students.

What Colleges Do

The question of what colleges do has had many different answers. This is because Scotland's colleges do so much and the term further education (FE) is so all-encompassing.

An answer (adapted from Michael Leech, 1999) in simple lay terms is that the work of colleges is "principally, vocational education and training, but in addition general education, access studies and adult and continuing education courses". Another way of putting this is that colleges are Scotland's comprehensives of lifelong learning.

This formulation does not do justice, however, to the:

· range of specialisms (from the very general such as literacy, numeracy, and IT to the very specific and occupational);

· different levels of study from basic to intermediate and to advanced higher education; and

· different modes of delivery from full-time college attendance to part-time and distance learning of varying intensity and duration.

Nearly a decade ago, it was memorably put by Helena Kennedy that the reason

why so few policy-makers and influencers (knew) about FE or Colleges is because so few of them (had) direct personal or family experience of it. This is changing as more and more Scots take advantage of learning and training in Colleges.

Funding of Colleges

Scotland gets, for the public money spent on its Colleges, a national service of lifelong learning, particularly of vocational qualifications, for those who live and work in Scotland, which is delivered locally.

The substantial sums of grant-in-aid paid out by the Scottish Funding Council provide the capacity for colleges to do a wide range of things suited and adapted to their local circumstances, and to deliver collectively Ministers priorities for lifelong learning for Scotland as a whole.

Funding - both the core grant-in-aid and tuition fees - tend to be standard amounts for a very wide range of activity. Overall levels of public funding for colleges need to be sufficient to:

• Provide a realistic and sustainable unit of resource for tuition and services to the student;
• Encompass high costs of
• • low class sizes,
  • students with above average needs, and
  • other factors that low cost funding will not deliver;
• Enable colleges to offer courses, facilities, and qualifications up-to-date and relevant to employer requirements;
• Encourage more people living and working in Scotland to develop their own employability and careers; and
• Reward and motivate College staff to develop and deliver high quality learning and teaching to all students.

Lifelong learning is a key driver of policy imperatives such as employability, productivity, active citizenship and social inclusion. For more than half Scotland's people colleges are the main provider of new opportunities through lifelong learning. To develop schools and universities without commensurate investment in Colleges would be to leave these key tasks half or more undone.

Colleges have to be better funded so they can provide the better level, range and quality of education and training Scotland needs, its employers require, and its students deserve.

Opportunity

Scotland's Colleges provide quality education to a great diversity of students across a wide spectrum of subject areas and levels of qualifications. They provide opportunities for people of all ages throughout Scotland to develop the learning, enterprise, and skills they need to:

• Sustain employability
• Develop careers
• Become more active citizens
• Combat social exclusion

Scotland's incorporated colleges have doubled participation from 1 in 23 Scots in 1993 to 1 in 10 in 2003. ASC believes that Scotland should substantially increase opportunities to participate in lifelong learning to 1 in 5 by 2013.

It speaks to the flexibility of Scotland's Colleges and the service they provide to students that learners are able to access a variety of courses on terms that suit them, rather than being forced into a prescriptive model of learning.

Of all those who enrolled in colleges last year, 2/3 had no previous qualifications recorded. Some of these will have had qualifications which they did not declare to the college, but it still remains that a significant number come to college with very limited prior engagement with structured learning. Some left school to work; others may have become disengaged due to negative experiences with formal education. Either way, college offers a chance for students to gain confidence and qualifications that equip them not only for work, but also for life.

The student profile of Scotland's Colleges with regards to the socio-economic background of students broadly matches that of the population as a whole. This represents the huge contribution that Scotland's Colleges are making to inclusiveness and to extending opportunity to all people in Scotland.

The Age Participation Index (API) measures the percentage of young Scots entering higher education for the first time anywhere in the UK in a given year. In 2002-03, the last year for which data is available, almost 1/3 of students in Scotland who entered higher education for the first time did so in colleges. Without colleges, the API would have been just 33.2, as opposed to 48.9 when colleges are included. More than 50% of all Scots entering higher education in Scotland for the first time do so in colleges. This is because many students embark on HE part-time at a local college and only later decide to go on to a full-time HN or degree programme.

Colleges cater to the needs of learners at all stages of their educations, lives, and careers. 60% of all enrolments in Scotland's Colleges are by people 25 or older. These may be people who have been working but are seeking further professional qualifications, people looking to retrain in a new area to change their careers, or those who may never have worked but are now seeking to expand their skills and employability.

Accessibility

Scotland's Colleges are easily accessible to the vast majority of the Scottish population as well, with 22,000 staff and 4,000 learning sites accessible within 30 minutes of travel for 90% of Scotland's people and within 2 miles for 40%, and a total budget of £600 million.

Subject Areas

In total, well over two hundred different subject areas are identified by the Funding Council, but the broader categories are outlined in the graph below. Computing is the most popular area of study, with 84,000 enrolments, but within that single category there a huge variety of courses ranging from courses entitled "Computers Don't Bite" and "Computing for the Terrified" to advanced programming.

Qualifications

Similarly, all programme groups offer courses that span a wide range of ability and experience levels. Courses range from very basic, confidence building courses, to courses offering advanced professional and vocational qualifications. These are both academic and vocational qualifications in a variety of subject areas and at all levels.

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework

The development of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework has provided an easy to understand overview of the range of qualifications available in Scotland. Colleges are providing education at every level: from access courses for those with severe and profound learning difficulties, to Professional Development Awards at SCQF levels 11 and 12.

*Shaded cells indicate provision available through Scotland's Colleges.

Scotland's Colleges offer a very wide range of courses at a variety of levels of qualification. Almost 730,000 SQA qualifications were awarded at various levels to students at Scotland's Colleges in 2004, as outlined in the table below.

Quality

Colleges provide lifelong learning of high quality for all levels of qualification and all stages of work and life which is:

• Tailored to meet the requirements of employers
• Easy to access on campus, in the workplace or the community, or at home
• A wraparound service of support and care

HMIe

A complete picture of the work colleges do cannot be painted by solely looking at statistics about the sector. Rather, there is a need to examine particular case studies to see how the sector operates and to understand the differences colleges make to individual learners and to their communities. A few examples taken from HMIe's inspection reports for several of Scotland's Colleges published in 2005 are given in Annex 1.

Productivity

Scotland has fundamental economic weaknesses of

• Demography (aging population falling replacement rate of young people)
• Loss of traditional industries
• Excessive numbers of people who are economically inactive and/or have low or no qualifications for work or further study.

Futureskills Scotland surveys confirm that employers are more concerned about skills gaps, ie employees without adequate skills to do the work rather than skills shortages, ie insufficient recruits for the jobs they offer.

There are many different models of partnership between Colleges and employers. Some - particularly full-time programmes - are fully funded from public funds. Others involve elements provided in the workplace or funded by the employer and/or students themselves.

Generally there is a useful distinction to be drawn between

• Education to achieve work-readiness for a range of different jobs and for the next job; and
• Training to ensure job-readiness for a particular job or sequence of jobs.

College provision is vital for underpinning the:

• Teaching and training in skills employers require
• Upskilling existing employees to be more productive and capable
• Providing the skills most valued by employers
• • teamwork
  • communication skills
  • problem solving ability
  • leadership skills
  • planning
  • customer service skills
• Transfer of expert and specialist knowledge to business and public service users

Business engagement with Scotland's Colleges is not limited to recruiting school leavers. In the same Futureskills Scotland survey, 23% of businesses said they used colleges to provide staff training, with the construction sector the most likely to chose colleges.

Scotland's Colleges are able to offer flexible provision of a wide variety of staff training in various fields. The most common areas in which colleges provided staff training was business studies, such as management, sales, marketing, and distribution. Staff were trained part-time during the working day, on short day courses, or at evenings and weekends. Businesses satisfaction levels with the training provided at colleges were very high at 82%.

Relevance of College Provision

Colleges provide:

• Vocational and occupational learning supported by employers

· Training for today's jobs and a quick response rate to meet local and national skills needs

· Helping students from disadvantaged areas and backgrounds

• Personal development and fulfilment

Colleges serve:

• Student demand - for choice and progression
• Employers' requirements - for skills and enterprise
• Society's needs - for employability & social inclusion

Colleges are the nexus of lifelong learning supporting and working in partnership with a vast range of other providers of education and training.

There are many working partnerships between Colleges either for specialised provision or for working with particular partners. The sector as a whole has moved from competition for increasing volume to collaboration ensuring best use of available expertise and resources. ASC is compiling more material on the range of such partnerships which include:

• Links with schools for pre-vocationals and "skills for work" programmes;
• Consortia for modernising widely used HNC or HND titles;
• partnerships to develop local HE provision (such as the University of the Highlands and Islands Millennium Institute, Crichton Campus in Dumfries and plans for Galashiels in the Borders);
• Shared teaching and learning materials (such as the Colleges Open Learning Exchange Group - COLEG); and
• Joint development programmes for staff and leadership in colleges (including Scottish Further Education Unit).

Colleges have also been major contributors to cross-sectoral initiatives or programmes. The range and extent of college involvement is very wide. Major examples include:

• EU Structural Funds (Agenda 2000 programmes which will run until the end of 2006) for both infrastructure (ERDF) and training or disadvantaged groups (European Social Fund);
• Community learning partnerships to improve services of adult and community education (with local authorities and the voluntary sector);
• Local Economic Forums to ensure that colleges contribute to business support and local economic development priorities (with the Enterprise Networks and other partners); and
• Further afield, the Sector Skills Councils and in particular Lifelong Learning UK for the Lifelong Learning industry itself.

Colleges are also main partners for delivering a wide range of Government Policy initiative including;

• Educational Maintenance Allowances;
• Individual Learning Accounts;
• Guidance and Counselling for Students (working with Careers Scotland); and
• Easier access to learning opportunities with Learndirect Scotland.

The key ambition of ASC has long been to establish the reciprocal principle. This is the other public agencies should seek to involve and work with colleges to the same extent that colleges are assumed - and ready - to support and work with them.

International

The contribution of Scotland's Colleges is not limited just to educating Scots. They also attract students from across the UK and around the world. Colleges offer a world-class education, whether in English language or other specialist subjects.

Last year, more than 4500 students from 112 countries studied at Scotland's Colleges. More than 2100 of these were from outside the EU. Scotland's colleges therefore have a global impact by attracting people to live and work in Scotland, ensuring that bright young people who return to their own countries have a lasting relationship with Scotland, and raising Scotland's profile around the world.

Entitlement

Opportunity for lifelong learning is heavily skewed in favour of those who succeed at school and in later studies. Access to publicly funded lifelong learning needs to be substantially enhanced for those who most lack the learning, skills, and experience needed for work and for success in their lives. These individuals are not only disadvantaged educationally : they have least resources to invest in their own lifelong learning and are most likely to encounter negative returns on the effort and opportunity cost they incur.

Improving their opportunity should be stated as an "entitlement" and should be the major priority for additional funding of lifelong learning and student support for the next 10 years.

One component of this should be a LIFETIME LEARNING ACCOUNT which ASC first proposed in 2001. For all modes and all levels of post-school learning and training, the LLA should include:

• A right to study out of work as well as in a job;
• A learning plan and agreement suited to the needs of the individual;
• A cumulative record of attainment (now developing as the Scottish Qualifications Certificate);
• An entitlement to student support (for fees, study expenses, and maintenance during full-time study); and
• A record of investment by the individual and his/her employer and family, and from the various sources of public funding.

Summary

Scotland's Colleges prepare people for work and for life making a real difference to individuals, employers, the economy, and society as a whole. They give students skills for work, skills for life, and skills for further learning. Scotland's Colleges play a vital role in extending opportunity and promoting social inclusion by offering accessible, quality education in academic and vocational subjects as well as basic skills to meet the broad needs and interests of people throughout Scotland.

ASC

18 October 2005 ANNEX 1

HMIe Reports

HMIe conducts inspections of each of Scotland's colleges every four years. These inspections are concerned with a variety of issues, from the teaching and learning environment to student support. As part of the inspection reports, HMIe publishes examples of best practice from the colleges, many of which highlight the innovative approaches to teaching, learning, widening access, and serving students that are making a real difference to students and communities.

1. "Development of citizenship in business, management and administration through voluntary work in the community (Angus)

"The Angus Gold project with Angus Council encouraged Angus College students to work in the community as IT tutors for people of more than 50 years of age. Volunteers went through the normal Angus Council application procedures including disclosure checks. Initially, six HND Administration and Information Management (AIM) students acted as trainers in day-care centres, sheltered accommodation and nursing homes in Arbroath, Forfar, Kirriemuir and Montrose. The HND student volunteers undertook training in health and safety, dealing with confidentiality and volunteering more generally, and helped to organise and participate in a two-day event in a local hotel for learners and volunteers. The HND students were involved in one-to-one and group tutoring, and supported more than 100 learners every week. Some of the existing volunteers were keen to continue in the role after successfully completing their HND AIM programme.

"Overall, the volunteers helped to support a large number of participants in the community to develop their IT skills. The volunteers gained from:

• involvement in the community as active citizens;
• development of interpersonal and employability skills;
• improved knowledge through preparation for the specific training; and
• growth in confidence, self esteem and social skills."

2. "Comprehensive links with HEIs to support progression for learners (James Watt)

"The college had established a comprehensive range of links with HEIs in Scotland and England. It had clear, well-established general progression agreements with Paisley, Abertay, Glasgow Caledonian and Napier universities. Many learners progressed to degree level studies on completion of their SCQF level 7 or 8 (HNC, HND or university-accredited diploma in higher education) programme at college. In addition, the college had agreements relating to specific courses with universities such as Northumbria, Kingston and Central Lancashire. More recently, it had developed progression agreements with Strathclyde, Heriot-Watt, The Robert Gordon and Aberdeen universities. These agreements allowed over 100 learners each year to undertake degree studies locally within the college's own campuses.

"The links with HEIs supported the college's international strategy to attract more overseas learners to Scotland, to increase its scale of programme delivery and consultancy overseas, and to develop partnerships with overseas government bodies. The college had some 150 overseas learners from countries such as Libya, China, and the USA. It was active in promoting progression to degree provision from both HN programmes and from its suite of language programmes. The college worked co-operatively in Singapore and Malaysia with Napier University.

"The links with HEIs also provided platforms for the college's partnerships operating in the area of knowledge transfer. The college contributed to the West of Scotland Wider Access Forum. It had taken a leading role in the On-track initiative to develop bridging materials for HN learners progressing to degree studies. The college was actively involved in studies of retention of further education learners who progressed to higher education and in developing good practice that assisted learner retention."

3. "Flexible provision that meets learner needs in Business, management and administration ( Dundee )

"Innovatively-designed NQ IT and Administration, and HNC Business Administration programmes met the needs of individual learners particularly well. Learners on both programmes were able to learn at times and in ways suitable for their individual needs. They were able to make speedy progress, building on prior learning and achieving more challenging outcomes where appropriate. The NQ programme anticipated subsequent HN study by integrating HN content at the earliest possible opportunity. For example, learners developed and used desktop publishing skills in association with communication units. Learners also undertook "closed-book tests within time constraints, thereby preparing themselves for work at HN level.

"The HNC Business Administration programme was largely delivered by open learning, but approaches were much wider than this description would imply. Individual learners had great scope to plan their way forward on the programme through a variety of learning and teaching approaches. The emphasis was on independent work supported by a core of bespoke materials, together with fortnightly Saturday classes. Learners were able to progress to a part-time degree, completing their entire programme of study within four years.

"On both programmes, learner motivation had been enhanced, and student success rates had improved."

4. "Applied vocational study skills (Banff and Buchan)

"The construction craft curriculum team with responsibility for the full-time general building craft programme had identified poor retention of learners who had a range of additional support needs. This group of learners had particularly low levels of communication and numeracy skills and this was a significant contributory factor in their drop-out rate. In 2003, the team introduced a pre-vocational building craft programme and recruited a cohort of 10 learners with a range of learning or behavioural difficulties. The craft lecturer worked closely with a member of the core skills team to plan and implement a programme of applied communication and numeracy. They integrated this programme of core skills support skilfully into the vocational programme with the core skills lecturer joining the craft lecturer in one half-day classroom session per week to provide support for learners' development of skills of linear measurement and calculation of area as well as reading for understanding. In addition, the core skills lecturer collaborated with the craft lecturer in one half-day workshop class per week to provide support for learners in their application of core skills in practical workshop activities. As a result of this close involvement of the core skills lecturer with the learners in their vocational classes and activities, retention on the programme improved significantly, learners' application of communication and numeracy skills improved and there were significant increases in their confidence and engagement with their studies."

5. "Use of digital imaging in hairdressing, beauty and complementary therapies (James Watt)

"Staff made very good use of digital images in the form of video clips and photographs in a variety of ways to support student learning. They had compiled a library of photographic and video tutorials to support students throughout their learning process. Learners could access well-presented tutorials through computers located in the salons, and follow the step-by-step instructions in various specialist techniques. Learners could progress through the tutorials at their own pace, and check their understanding of applications. Learners developed an autonomous approach to their learning. They accessed tutorials through the college's intranet, which allowed them to continue their studies at home or at work. Staff had developed the approach to provide opportunities for flexible learning. For example, a learner in make-up artistry who lived and worked some distance from the college e-mailed digital images of coursework to her tutors. While the learner continued to attend college for practical demonstrations and assessments, the approach was convenient for her because it reduced the time she required to attend college. The approach gave learners opportunities to develop basic to intermediate ICT skills in a way that was interesting for them and relevant to their vocational area. Learners carried out a range of ICT tasks from opening and interacting with a range of software programmes to wordprocessing, saving and inserting images into a document and finally presenting images or files as part of their coursework. Through these various approaches, staff had successfully integrated the effective use of ICT to improve students' learning experiences."

6. "The Men in Childcare programme in care (Stevenson)

"The college had worked effectively with Men in Childcare, an initiative whose sponsors included Edinburgh City Council and the Scottish Executive. The intention of the initiative was to begin to address the issue of low numbers of men employed in child care. The college had put together and delivered a progressive series of programmes which introduced learners to child care through a 16-week taster experience. This was followed by a more intensive NQ programme, leading to an HNC in Early Education and Child Care, either through part-time or full-time study. The Men in Childcare team promoted the initiative and recruited men for the taster programme, which the college delivered on an evening basis. In this way, men interested in child care could gain valuable insights into a career in this area without giving up their employment. In the three years in which the college and Men in Childcare had collaborated on this project, the number of men employed in child care in the Edinburgh City Council had risen from 3% of employees to 9%. The success of the scheme had attracted interest from other areas in Scotland and the initiative, using the college framework of programmes and model of delivery, had been adopted by six other local authorities, working in partnership with local colleges."

7. "A systematic and comprehensive approach to strategic partnerships (Dundee)

"The college had developed well thought-out and effective approaches to a wide range of strategic partnerships including those with the local authority, community agencies, specific industrial sectors, schools, HEIs and other FE colleges. Key features of these partnerships included:

· "arrangements for the partner and the college to develop a thorough understanding of each other's objectives and operational procedures as a basis for meaningful collaboration and long-term planning

· "a commitment to integrate or embed initiatives within each organisation's wider operations rather than provide a bolt-on service

· "joint planning, management and delivery of programmes, to ensure ownership within both organisations and provide a platform for making changes effectively and speedily

· "common or jointly developed quality assurance arrangements, to maximise the potential for enhancing the learner experience

· "joint staff development or staff exchanges, to build capacity and develop common values as a basis for sustainability.

"As a result of these systematic and effective arrangements, the quality of the experience of a wide range of learners had improved, based on the enhanced capacity of the partners to deliver the product."

Other Examples of Student Support

Students with Complex Needs

The Student Development team at Elmwood College offers students with additional and complex needs an individual programme or a place in one of its discrete groups of approximately 8 -12 students. The students have a wide range of physical, social, and emotional disabilities as well as complex learning needs. Programmes are built round SQA units at access 1, 2, and 3 and intermediate 1 along with ASDAN and locally devised units tailored for each group. The focus of all courses is on the development of the students as individuals, so there is a strong emphasis on expanding life skills and social skills in every programme. The department has students on both full and part time courses and has good links with SEN units at local secondary schools. Class room assistants are provided by the college to give additional help if required within a group setting.

The College also has a full-time Inclusiveness Coordinator with a team of support workers who work with both mainstream and Student Development students with complex needs on a one-to-one basis. Through good working relationships with social services, the college has gained funding to secure support for these students, many of whom are on the autistic spectrum, enabling them to access the mainstream curriculum on a full-time or part-time basis. This one-to-one support is provided at appropriate levels and allows students to undertake NC and when appropriate HN level courses.

ANNEX 2

Examples of College Partnership

Knowledge Transfer

Elmwood College has been working in China for over 6 years on a major educational project that aims to transfer expert knowledge on golf-related education to Chinese educational partners. This is funded by the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and involves funding of £500k over 6 years, ending December 2005. A further £400k of funding has recently been awarded by the R & A and this will allow the project to continue until December 2008.

The College has formal partnership agreements in place with the following institutions:

• China Agricultural University (CAU) in Beijing
• Tourism College in Shenzhen
• Yunnan Agricultural University, Kunming
• Beijing Sports University
• Tongji University, Shanghai and their golf club partner - Yin Tao Golf Club, Shanghai,
• Shenzhen University
• Willow Golf Course, Beijing

These partners are at different stages of development. All currently have or have had lecturers trained at Elmwood College. These lecturers study for SQA PDA's in Golf Course and Golf Facility Management as well as Vocational Assessor awards (D32/33, now A1/A2 qualifications). After undertaking training in Scotland, they return to China and under Elmwood's guidance, develop their own curriculum equivalent to Professional Development Awards and HNC/Ds in Golf Course or Golf facility Management. These qualifications are branded as "St Andrews International Golf Qualifications" and are owned and quality-controlled by Elmwood College.

Elmwood College has an office and bilingual administrator in Shenzhen and many very useful relationships in the British Consulate's office and in the golf industry. Elmwood College is a recognised brand in the China Golf Industry and with the China Golf Association with whom they have a very high profile. Elmwood are regularly asked to speak at conferences and have been asked to organise seminars for government officials and golf industry employees.

Whilst in China delivering the R & A project Elmwood has used the opportunity to market their specialist golf provision to potential students. More than 50 Chinese students have studied or are currently studying at Elmwood. Some of these have progressed to Abertay University for the final 2 years of a Degree in Golf Tourism; others have returned to China to work in the golf industry.

Prisons

Kilmarnock College is one of several of Scotland's Colleges that has been involved in training projects with prisoners. Among other projects, their engineering department offered vocational training in fabrication and welding to a select group of prisoners from Bowhouse Prison. The prison had secured a fabrication and welding contract with a local company, so Kilmarnock College worked in partnership with the prison to provide training to the prisoners who were then able to work on the project. The college trained prisoners to SVQ level 2, and those who completed the programme received a SQA certificated qualification. They also benefited from working on a live project, which provided them with valuable work experience as well as a strong, recognised qualification.

Kilmarnock College has also offered places to some former prisoners, interviewing them in prison so that there are places available for them when they leave. This helps to integrate these ex-offenders back into wider society, giving them a chance to develop life and career skills. At the same time, they have run "Training for Trainers" programmes for prison officers, equipping them to offer further training to prisoners in partnership with the college which the college can then verify. In this way, Kilmarnock College is widening access to education for all, promoting social inclusion, and offering opportunities to prisoners to acquire life skills and improve their employability.

Asylum-seekers

Anniesland College works with more than 400 asylum-seekers from over 100 countries. The college integrates asylum-seekers into mainstream courses, which has a positive impact on all students, integrating cultures and allowing students to learn from each other. Scottish students gain a deeper understanding of a wide-cross section of the world's people. Asylum-seekers gain English ability, acquire new skills, and gain verification of qualifications they may already hold. This happens both informally as students study together and formally through the "Buddies Scheme" whereby students meet together regularly for cultural and social events, and to learn more about each other's cultures.

Anniesland College also employs a student advisor for asylum-seekers and refugees who is himself an asylum-seeker. He is a resource to asylum-seeker students, addressing concerns, answering questions, and providing information in national languages to those who may have limited English. He also works raising awareness of issues related to asylum-seekers and refugees both within the college and in the wider community.

Partnership Agreement

Scotland's Colleges are contributing to virtually every area of the Scottish Executive's programme as laid out in the Partnership agreement.

"Growing the economy is our top priority. A successful economy is key to our future prosperity and a pre-requisite for building first class public services, social justice and a Scotland of opportunity." (p. 6)

Scotland's Colleges are vital in creating a skilled workforce capable of fuelling economic growth. Colleges teach practical, vocational skills, work with businesses in modern apprenticeships schemes, and provide further training local companies as well as teaching literacy and numeracy skills. Scotland's colleges equip hundreds of thousands of students to be efficient, productive employees and entrepreneurs. 370,000 students studied in Scotland's Colleges in 2003-04. Scotland's Colleges help to create a strong work force that is attractive to international businesses thinking of locating in Scotland.

"We will work to ensure that the rural economy continues to provide jobs and opportunities for all. We will secure a sustainable future for our rural industries." (p. 15)

Scotland's Rural Colleges teach a wide variety of courses vital to the rural economy and to rural life in Scotland: agriculture, equine studies, horticulture, farriery, environment and conservation, and animal care, to name but a few. Scotland's Colleges are the primary provider in Scotland of these sorts of courses and qualifications. The Scottish Executive's rural programme would be virtually impossible to deliver without the contribution of Scotland's Colleges.

"Improving Scotland's health is central to the welfare of our society." (p. 20)

Scotland's Colleges provide a tremendous amount of training in health care, with around 55,000 students studying on a health course in 2003-04. An overstretched NHS would find provision even more difficult if not for the contribution of Scotland's Colleges. By training support staff, Scotland's colleges help to reduce the burden on doctors and nurses, freeing them to best use their expertise to treat patients.

"We will provide more flexible learning and development opportunities so that pupils' experience of education is matched to their individual needs." (p. 26)

Through school-college collaboration, pupils across Scotland are being offered educational opportunities that better meet their needs and allow them to reach their full potential. Colleges offered a valuable opportunity for 8600 pupils in 2003-04 to engage in education in a far more successful and fulfilling way than they would have been able to do through traditional schooling.

"We want to give every child and young person the best possible start in life. Helping our children realise their potential is the key to giving them a sense of self-fulfilment and equipping them for their future." (p. 31)

Scotland's colleges provide services not only to adult learners, but also to children. Many colleges provide quality nurseries where young children are encouraged to learn, develop, and grow. Some colleges even provide courses for children, in art or cooking. Often these courses are run in conjunction with adult courses, allowing parents to further their own education as well. In addition to the direct provision to children, they will also benefit when their parents are able to learn, becoming more employable.

"We will continue to work for a Safer Scotland, reducing crime…and reducing re-offending. Alongside measures to improve education and opportunity, we will tackle the causes of crime to make communities safer places to live and work." (p. 33)

Scotland's Colleges work with the prison service to provide education to offenders as part of a package of rehabilitation, helping them to gain the skills and confidence that they need to become positive contributors to society. This is a difficult area, which can be a tremendous strain on colleges and demands high levels of resources. It is essential that Scotland's Colleges are given the freedom and resources that they need to continue this valuable work.

"We will tackle the social, educational and economic barriers that create inequality and work to end child poverty by tackling deprivation and social need." (p. 37)

Education is the key to empowering individuals, giving them the tools they need to achieve their full potential and overcome social and economic barriers. By extending high quality further and higher education to people right across the social spectrum, from all sorts of socio-economic backgrounds, Scotland's Colleges are helping to create amore just and equal society with opportunities for all. Colleges attract students from different socio-economic backgrounds broadly in line with the make-up of society as a whole.

"Our vision is for a Scotland where our cultural life is inclusive and accessible… The creative industries will have an increasingly important role in the future economy." (p. 42)

Scotland's Colleges provide arts education at various levels, from leisure courses that extend cultural life to part-time learners throughout their lives, to full-time courses that equip students to work in the creative industries. In this way, they enrich the cultural life of the country, which will benefit all.