Achi news desk-
Now, we’re investigating a sector that is absolutely vital to Scotland’s current and future prosperity, but which rarely, if ever, gets the attention it deserves.
It is time to ask questions about the state of Scotland’s colleges.
How do they work? Who do they serve? Why are they important?
And how do we help them help as many people as possible?
Scotland’s further education sector has faced serious challenges for most of the past decade. The numbers don’t lie, so we’ll examine the data showing the state of college funding, student numbers and course availability, and ask what the huge and widening funding gap compared to inflation means for these essential institutions.
Read more: Glasgow Art School Fires: Find all articles in this series here
But although the core problems are long standing, it is also fair to say that they have now come to an end – and no one seems to be able to find a practical solution.
A decade of industrial disputes has therefore led to a face-off almost two years away: on one side are workers seeking pay rises in real terms to tackle a massive cost of living crisis; on the other are college employers whose cash funding is being cut; and in the background there are two governments whose decisions and priorities have put the further education sector under unbearable pressure.
The word ’emergency’ is absolutely correct.
How did we get here, and what would it take to resolve the impasse?
We’ll talk to the key players to find out if there’s even an answer to those questions.
When people think of colleges they usually – and not unreasonably – think of students from relatively deprived areas of urban and suburban areas, but what is happening across the Highlands and Islands?
How do students from rural and so-called ‘remote’ areas gain access to further and even higher education through a network of colleges covering more than half of Scotland’s landmass, and is the current model sustainable in the face of increasing financial pressure?
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We traveled to the Highlands and the Isle of Skye to see for ourselves, and found institutions with unique histories rooted in the communities they were built around.
In the coming days, we will also be bringing you stories about the transformative power of colleges and talking to individuals who have seen the trajectory of their entire lives changed by their adult learning experiences.
Colleges, however, are far too diverse and vibrant for us to do more than offer a brief glimpse of some of the amazing work that goes on every day, and perhaps in some ways that is part of the problem. It could be argued that further education’s great strength is also a potential weakness, for its astonishing and fascinating diversity is precisely what makes it so difficult to appreciate the true and full value of Scotland’s colleges.
But if that is the case, then a new approach is needed – and fast – because now more than ever the price of that collective ignorance is too high.
In preparing this series we have seen and heard why colleges are vital to Scotland’s prosperity now and in the future, and that the only way towards any net zero destination runs directly through the education sector now.
Educators, experts and business owners told us that you can have a just transition to a green economy or you can have a shrinking and contracting college system – but you certainly can’t have both.
A college education changes lives, and countries, for the better. It is a story that deserves to be told and a promise that deserves to be honored.
Join us next week as we shed light on The State of Scotland’s Colleges.
