Achi news desk-
Each of the 12 partner colleges has its own community to represent, but also its own areas of expertise and its own industry partners.
UHI Inverness principal and chief executive Chris O’Neil said each academic year begins with a comprehensive review of industry, student and regional trends to build a curriculum with as much to offer as possible.
“We look at the expected growth in the Highlands region, and that together with the 500 businesses we work with gives us a fairly good insight into how the curriculum should evolve.
“You can’t turn a curriculum around on sixpence, because you have some students who are bought into a curriculum for a period of four years. But you have to have a constant process of evolution.
“We are a demand-led organization and you have to look at that demand constantly.”
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Part of the review process is to ensure that programs and courses run as efficiently as possible. This means that each year could see staff being redeployed or creating entirely new courses, apprenticeships, or modules to match partner needs, student interests, and the college’s valuable front-line staff.
“I am really very proud of the way my colleagues have looked at the efficiency and effectiveness and most importantly, the relevance of the curriculum offered. Our planning process is incredibly rigorous: it takes into account aspects of fixed costs, forecast costs, and the maximum overheads we might need to pay to the Executive Office.”
It also takes into account the appetites of students and the needs of local industries. Although UHI Inverness may never compete directly with the University of Glasgow in terms of the size of its engineering programme, for example, the advantage of the college’s location is the ability to meet a specific local need.
“We have engineering companies within striking distance of this building. And we can talk to people who might need half a dozen people. We’re very small, and I think that gives us the flexibility to provide the level of sensitive service to the people we’re here to serve.”
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Carrie Higgins, Tertiary Education Leader of Technology, Environment and Education at UHI Inverness, said the college was in the middle of one of those transformations. The Scottish School of Forestry, based at UHI Inverness’s wooded Balloch campus, is set to launch a new qualification which will allow students to work towards a degree while working in the forestry industry.
The idea came directly from partners in the forestry industry, who she said at one point were so desperate for workers that they recruited students before they could finish their program. The new graduate apprenticeship, he says, enables students to get work without sacrificing their progress.
He said it is an advantage to have a good relationship with industry partners, but it is also an advantage to have university and college level coaches on the same campus.
“I think people know that colleges are great at developing skills, and we know that universities are great at developing critical thinking and analysis. But being able to combine the staff as well as the routes means you can bring in the benefits of both.”
More than 500 UHI Inverness partnerships lead to new academic opportunities on campus and create direct links to employment for students. Each year, graduates of a practical construction course built in partnership with the Civil Engineering Contracting Association (CECA) are guaranteed an interview with a partner employer.
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But more than that, part of the partnership requires employers to maintain a 75% employment rate for successful candidates.
However, flexibility still has its costs, and even financially stable campuses such as UHI Inverness are feeling the pinch as purses tighten across the college sector. Inverness invests heavily in modern apprenticeships and graduate apprenticeships, which allow students to work while still gaining college or university credits.
The college expects 384 new modern apprentices and 97 new graduate apprentices in 2024-25 to add to the more than 650 already in place.
But these offerings require equipment, machinery, safety precautions, unorthodox classrooms, and, often, a great deal of space—none of which comes cheap.
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Professor O’Neil sees his job as the one at the bottom of the pyramid who has to balance the costs. Part of that includes an ongoing project to harmonize HR departments and software systems across the entire UHI partnership because, as he put it, “the duplication will kill you.”
He said no amount of cost cutting should come at the expense of the college’s obligations to the community.
The college runs several programs and initiatives to pursue that drive. Following the pandemic, UHI Inverness began offering free breakfast and lunch to students and has served 92,000 free meals since March 2022.
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They also have banks for free food and toiletries, a student book fund, laptop loans, and an online cooking club with free ingredients and interactive sessions to teach students how to prepare healthy meals.
The college’s LEEP (Life, Education, Employment and Personal Development) Ahead program – winner of the Widening Access award at the Herald Higher Education Awards 2023 – helps reconnect young people with care experience to learning and employment opportunities.
A recent inspection report described UHI Inverness as a cross-section of a health society. It was a proud moment for Professor O’Neil because he sees colleges as fulfilling a significant pastoral role in society.
Part of fulfilling that role means having a place for anyone interested in attending.
“We have people coming in who are dealing with a lot of personal struggles.
“I think we are only as good as a community or society as the least privileged within it. And I think education is an integral part of that.”
