The Scottish Government

REVIEW OF SCOTLAND'S COLLEGES

RoSCo e-Bulletin Issue 6 -August 2006

(You can download a PDF version of this document by clicking here)

Welcome

Update on the Review

Core Group

Working Groups

Information about other work of Further & Adult Education Division

Feedback Invited

Contacts

Welcome to the sixth edition of the Review of Scotland's Colleges (RoSCo) e-bulletin, which provides an update on progress of the Review.

We would be grateful if you could draw attention to the RoSCo e-Bulletin through your own internal and external newsletters and websites. We are also keen to ensure that the e-bulletin is circulated more widely by building up a more comprehensive distribution list. If you would like to be added to the mailing list please let us know by e-mailing rosco@scotland.gsi.gov.uk.

Information about the Review can be found on the Executive's revised website address at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/UniversitiesColleges/17135/RSC/Intro

Minutes and papers of the working groups and core group are available on the website.

The next meeting of the Core Group will take place 25 August. Members will be discussing the draft report on improving the overall college experience for learners complied by the Staffing Learners and Learning Environment Working Group.

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The Difference Colleges Make

This Working Group held its sixth meeting on 2 June in Europa Building .

The working group discussed the Core Group's suggested amendments to the draft report "Unlocking Opportunity: The Difference Scotland's Colleges make to learners, the economy and wider society". Members were thanked for their hard work in producing this report.

The draft report was soft launched by Allan Wilson, the Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning at the ASC Conference on 9 June and has been well received by the sector. The document can be viewed on the Review of Scotland's Colleges website: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/UniversitiesColleges/17135/RSC/Difference Ministers are currently considering how best to formally launch and disseminate the report. - the formal launch is likely to take place in the autumn.

Having completed their original remit members were informed that the Core Group now wished this group to look at the question of the difference colleges could make were further funding made available to the sector. Having discussed this proposal, members thought it would be useful to arrange a open workshop to discuss the proposal further. There was unanimous agreement that John Burt should continue his role as Chair of the Working Group.

The group met again on 2 July, for a workshop to identify the main pressures and opportunities for the college sector between 2008-09 and 2010-11 so that background papers could be commissioned for future consideration by the working group. The workshop was a useful event and six papers have been commissioned for presentation at the next meeting of the group- which will take place on 15 September in Meridian Court, Glasgow

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Accountability and Governance

This Working Group held its sixth meeting on 13 June at the Stirling Management Centre.

Members discussed further some of the issues considered by the 2003 Review of Governance and Accountability taking into account factors such as the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005.

Members were informed that the Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform had announced a Review of Inspection, Audit and Complaint at the start of June. The Further and Adult Education Division's Reviews Team has been asked to provide initial information on the bodies which have a scrutiny role in the college sector. Members discussed Paper 13 'Public Sector Monitoring and Evaluation', which sought to highlight the public agencies with an interest in the sector's regulatory landscape. Several further regulators, including the Executive itself, were identified and the group agreed to submit their amendments to this paper. The Reviews Team will submit an amended version to the Inspection, Audit and Complaint Review team.

Following the ASC's report on 'Updating Governance in Scotland's Colleges', the Executive was asked to investigate the role of Arts and Business Scotland (A&B Scotland). The purpose of this was to inform members of any potential assistance which this might offer in terms of attracting new Board members, and would in particular look at the idea of the Board Bank which A&B Scotland operates. As A&B Scotland's Board Bank is intended to be purely for business people interested in joining arts organisations, it was agreed that the discussion paper should be noted by members as being for information only.

The Working Group held its seventh meeting on 27 July in the STUC offices, Glasgow.

Having received 5 tenders the working group has decided to commission research from DTZ to identify good practice in colleges and from the experience of the private sector, other post-school education providers, charities and the wider public experience. The research findings are expected in October.

The group considered the strengthening of learner representation in the board of management and the roles and responsibilities of accountable officers. The Staffing, Learning and Learning Environment Working Group's draft report on student experience and student representation and the evidence from a SPARQ's representative fed into the Group's considerations.

The next meetings of the working group will take place on 1 September at Jewel and Esk Valley College.

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Staffing, Learners and Learning Environment

The working group held its eighth meeting at Reid Kerr College, Paisley on 01 June.

The meeting opened with a joint presentation by the Principal and Student President of the college (Joe Mooney and Natalé Craig respectively) on the subject of student participation within the management structure of a college. Following this, the main agenda item was a paper on Student Representation and the Overall Student Experience. It was agreed that this paper would be reworked by the Reviews Team, in line with the members' comments, and include case studies from two different colleges. It was hoped that these recommendations would be able to be signed off at the next meeting of the group.

The working group held its ninth meeting at Europa Building, Glasgow on 04 July.

At this meeting, members considered the revised paper outlining recommendations on improving the overall college experience for learners. Members endorsed the paper subject to certain minor revisions and pending their approval of a second Case Study, which was yet to be provided. Members agreed that once these final amendments have been agreed the paper will be submitted to the Core Group for approval.

The Professional Development of Staff Sub Group held its fifth meeting prior to the main working group meeting on 4 July. Members looked at a paper setting out approximate costings for the implementation of the Ministerial recommendations on teacher training for new lecturers. While members thought that this paper was useful, it was agreed that further steps should be taken to ensure that the figures it contained were as sound and realistic as possible. The other main item for discussion was a paper on the delegation of work undertaken by ETLLD: specifically, the Department's role in providing the Secretariat for the Professional Development Forum (PDF) and in approving programmes leading to the Teaching Qualification in Further Education [TQ(FE)]. Members agreed with the Department's recommendation that the status quo in these areas should be retained.

The next meetings of the working group and sub-group will take place on 14 September in St. Andrew's House in Edinburgh.

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Colleges' Long Term Strategic Future

The Review Team has been travelling across Scotland to ensure all college principals have the opportunity to give their views on the challenges and opportunities facing the sector over the next 10 - 15 years. There have also been meetings with other key stakeholders, such as NUS Scotland, trade unions, the Scottish Funding Council, the Association of Scottish Colleges and the business sector. This supplements the two open space events which were held in May 2006.

Building on these strategic conversations, a steering group meeting in June agreed a way forward for the first of three workshops, which was held on 27 July in Glasgow. Taking account of the First Minister's May lecture on Scotland's Future, participants worked on prioritising the key drivers which will influence where the college sector will be in 2020.

The output of this workshop will provide the basis for the development of scenario planning and the consideration of the implications for colleges, as we move into the autumn.

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The Division is currently planning and supporting Ministerial visits during Parliamentary Recess to colleges and other bodies and events. As part of the Ministerial summer tour the Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning has visited Forth Valley College, Cumbernauld College and Armagh and Newry Colleges in Northern Ireland.

We are engaging in drafting responses to Ministerial correspondence on issues such as the recent campaigns relating to James Watt College, West Lothian College's PFI and the closure of the Gaelic Unit at Inverness College.

We, along with Learning Connections Communities Scotland, will shortly be inviting bids to a Challenge Fund for projects which will engage employers and employees in workplace literacies learning.

As mentioned in the last e-bulletin, we are currently in the process of appointing two new members to the board of Scottish Funding Council, one with experience gained at a senior level in the college sector and one from the health sector with an understanding of workforce issues. Interviews were held in June and an announcement will be made once a Ministerial decision has been reached.

We are close to finalising policy work on an Adult ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Strategy for Scotland, a draft of which is with Cabinet for consideration.

We are developing an International Further and Higher Education Strategy and are currently consulting informally with members of the college sector. A draft strategy will be discussed at a summit in the Autumn before being published later this year.

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We would welcome ongoing feedback on any aspect of the Review. Please send your comments to

rosco@scotland.gsi.gov.uk.

RoSCo Project Leader - Col Baird

Tel 0141 242 0237

Email colin.baird@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

RoSCo Secretariat - Victoria Beattie

Tel 0141 242 0239

Email victoria.beattie@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Address Further and Adult Education Division

Europa Building

450 Argyle Street

Glasgow

G2 8LG

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