Colleges (Economic Recovery)

Speech by Alison McInnes delivered to Chamber, Scottish Parliament on Thu 1st Oct 2009

I think it is fair to say that everyone in the chamber recognises the role that our colleges must play on Scotland's road to economic recovery. The training and teaching that they provide, and the opportunities that they give to young people-school leavers-to further the skills that they need to successfully enter employment for the first time are important tools at any time, but in a time of economic downturn, when unemployment, particularly youth unemployment, rises, they become even more vital.

I am, of course, especially familiar with how the colleges in my region-Banff and Buchan College, Aberdeen College, Dundee College and Angus College-serve their communities. I am fortunate to have had the opportunity to see for myself the work that they do, and I can tell members that I have never been less than hugely impressed.

Over the past few years, each of those colleges has been publicly recognised for the innovative and excellent practices and programmes that it has introduced. An example of the excellent work that is going on that is of particular interest to me is the partnership that has been set up between Banff and Buchan College, a local business and a local school, which has the aim of increasing the number of young women who take up engineering. The programme, which was set up in response to concern about the number of suitably qualified women being recruited to engineering jobs, provides female role models from business to mentor an all-girls group and sponsors visits to various industrial sites. As well as encouraging more girls to consider pursuing a career in engineering, the scheme certainly provides the girls who participate with a highly desirable and transferable skill set, regardless of the path that they take.

The fact that Banff and Buchan College has a number of permanent outreach centres makes it truly local. It has demonstrated repeatedly that it is flexible, responsive to changing demand and innovative, despite not always getting its fair share of resources.

Aberdeen College has linked up with the Robert Gordon University to create the degree link programme, which is improving the progression from HND courses at the college to degree courses and making the transition a smoother process for students.

Dundee College has teamed up with a local hotel on its classroom to industry programme, which supports disaffected learners with limited employment prospects and develops their employability through vocational training in hospitality and professional cookery.

At Angus College, socially and educationally excluded young people are engaged through the skillzone, which is a programme through which educational access is provided at times to meet the individual's needs. By working with partners, the programme seeks to create personalised learning approaches, in an effort to overcome the effects of poor previous learning experiences. Performance indicators show that the scheme has a remarkable success rate, in both student retention and outcome. The skillzone is just one more example of how colleges-by providing tailored, individual teaching, targeted and vocational learning, and highly specialised support-are able to play a key role in helping young people to develop and, ultimately, be successful in finding employment.

I would be happy to talk about success stories from the north-east for the rest of the afternoon, but I must turn to an issue that the cabinet secretary is no doubt familiar with and which others have mentioned-the recent allocation of additional funding for colleges and the fact that rural colleges' needs have been overlooked in that funding round. As Fiona Hyslop may have anticipated, in particular I want to discuss the fact that Angus College has been overlooked both for additional revenue funding and capital funding.

I still await with great interest substantive answers to a number of questions that I lodged recently, in which I asked about the criteria that were used to determine which colleges should receive a share of the funds. I note with concern that all my initial parliamentary questions were met with the same reply, which was:

"Decisions on the funding of individual colleges are a matter for the Scottish Funding Council. I will ask the Chief Executive of the Scottish Funding Council to reply to the member."-[Official Report, Written Answers, 17 September 2009.]

I appreciate that the specific criteria may have been for the funding council to put in place, but I am concerned that the cabinet secretary apparently cannot recall what guidance she may or may not have given on the matter to the funding council. I do not have the detail that I would like to have. An answer to my parliamentary question about guidance was given, but a letter to me from the principal and board of governors of Angus College about the decision said that the college has

"taken these matters up with the Chief Executive of the SFC ... to be informed that they were responding to Scottish Government Guidance."

There needs to be more clarity about that.

I acknowledge that not every college in Scotland could have shared the funds and that difficult decisions were taken. However, Angus College serves an area with an average youth unemployment level of 7.3 per cent, which is well above the Scottish average, and it will receive nothing while colleges in areas with lower unemployment rates will benefit from the extra funds. If we add the fact that, without additional funding, Angus College will not be able to meet the ever-increasing demand for enrolment, it is plain to see why the college has been left asking serious questions about the allocation process.

I have no doubt that colleges have a key role to play in tackling the impact of the recession and preparing our young people for the economic recovery to come. It is therefore essential that young people in the north-east are not further disadvantaged by any future unfair funding allocations.