This is the first of a regular series of newsletters

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T

his is the first of a regular series of newsletters produced by Scotland’s Colleges to help college board members, board secretaries and those senior staff who support their boards, keep up-to-date with what is happening across Scotland as the sector moves towards a new regional structure. While you may be up to speed with the changes in your own area or have some information on developments elsewhere, this newsletter will offer you a Scotland wide perspective on the decisions that have been taken and the discussions that are taking place.

Copies of the newsletter will be issued by e-mail and also sent out via board secretaries and Chairs. If you

would like to be added to the e-mail distribution list for this newsletter send your details to:

marian.mcmorland@scotcol.ac.uk.

This newsletter will provide a snapshot of events as we know about them but we are in a fast moving environment so if you would like to provide up to date information about what is happening in your part of the country for the newsletter please contact: marian.mcmorland@scotcol.ac.uk.

We also welcome your feedback and suggestions for topics to be covered in the regular updates.

Issue 1

April 2012

Government Consultations and Announcements

Here is a summary of the consultations and announcements related to college governance issued to date by the Scottish Government and the Scottish Funding Council. Note that there has been no comprehensive announcement yet from the Scottish Government on how they plan to take forward the proposals in the Griggs report or their own Post 16 Putting Learners at the Centre consultation paper.

Date Author Topic Contact link

July 2011 Scottish

Government Announcement of terms of Griggs Review http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/UniversitiesColleges/17135/ CollegeGovernanceReview/remit

September

2011 Scottish Government Consultation on Post 16 Putting Learners at the Centre http://www.scotland.gov.uk/ Publications/2011/09/15103949/0 14/11/2011 Scottish Government and Scottish Funding Council Consultation on

regionalisation and taking forward Post 16 Putting

Learners at the Centre

http://www.sfc.ac.uk/news_events_circulars/ Consultations/2011/Consultations_

jointconsultation.aspx

01/02/2012 Cabinet Secretary

for Education College regions announced http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2012/02/College01022012

for Education Report of the Griggs Review published http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/UniversitiesColleges/17135/ CollegeGovernanceReview/

FEGovernanceReport

02/02/2012 Scottish Funding

Council Announcement of indicative financial decisions for Scotland’s colleges for academic year 2012-13

http://www.sfc.ac.uk/news_events_circulars/ Circulars/2012/SFC0212.aspx

for Education Announcement of West Lothian as 13th_{college region} http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/_{Releases/2012/03/west-lothian13032012} 29/03/2012 Cabinet Secretary

for Education New student funding via Skills Development Scotland announced

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/

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Regional Areas Proposed by Scottish Government

The government envisages that each ‘region’ of Scotland will have a single fundable body by summer 2013 which will receive the FE funding for its area and will be responsible for allocating that funding between colleges (where there is more than one in a region) and accountable for ensuring the delivery of FE in that area. In the preceding academic year 2012-13 individual colleges will remain the fundable bodies but the Scottish Funding Council will provide funding on a regional basis. Details of precisely how that will work are still being finalised.

The Regions Currently Proposed By Government

Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire

will comprise: Aberdeen College

Banff and Buchan College

Ayrshire

will include: Ayr College Kilmarnock College

The Kilwinning campus of James Watt College

Borders

comprising: _{Borders College}

Central or Forth Valley

comprising: _{Forth Valley College}

Dumfries and Galloway

comprising: _{Dumfries & Galloway College}

Edinburgh

Edinburgh’s Telford CollegeJewel and Esk College

Stevenson College Edinburgh

Fife

will include: Adam Smith College

Carnegie College The non land-based provision at Elmwood College

Glasgow

will include: Anniesland College Cardonald College City of Glasgow College John Wheatley College

Langside College North Glasgow College Stow College

Highlands & Islands

will include: Argyll College UHI Inverness College UHI Lews Castle College UHI Moray College UHI

North Highland College UHI

Orkney College UHI Perth College UHI Shetland College UHI West Highland College UHI

Lanarkshire

will include:Coatbridge College

Cumbernauld College Motherwell CollegeSouth Lanarkshire College

Tayside

will include:Angus College Dundee College

West

will include: Clydebank College

Reid Kerr College The Inverclyde campus of James Watt College

West Lothian

comprising _{West Lothian College}

In addition the three land based colleges – Elmwood College, Oatridge College and Barony College – will be treated as a region for funding purposes and special arrangements will be put in place for Sabhal Mòr Ostaig and Newbattle Abbey Colleges.

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Sector Responses to

Government Proposals

Many colleges submitted their own responses during the Griggs review and in response to its proposals and those of the Post 16 Putting Learners at the Centre consultation document. In addition Scotland’s Colleges co-ordinated sector wide comments. These can be found at:

http://www.scotcol.ac.uk/scotlands-colleges/press-releases/

Outcome Agreements

The Scottish Funding Council is currently holding discussions with college staff about the compilation of Regional Outcome Agreements for the academic year 2012-13. These have to be agreed at board level and submitted to the SFC in June 2012 and once agreed, delivery of the outcome agreement will be a condition of funding for 2012-13.

Scotland’s Colleges has organised a series of one-day seminars for board members who want to understand more about the Outcome Agreements and what they will mean for their college. All board members are welcome to attend:

Wednesday 9 May 2012

Langside College, Glasgow

Wednesday 16 May 2012

Edinburgh – venue to be confirmed

Tuesday 22 May

Perth College UHI, Perth.

Details of what the seminars will cover and how to sign up to attend can be found at:

http://events.scotlandscolleges.ac.uk/events?cat=4 &region=&month=&year=&end_month=&end_ year=&s=

To assist with this process, the SFC has appointed their own regional managers who are tasked with negotiating the agreements for each region. They are:

Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire _{Karen Chapman} (until May 2012) Julie McCran Tayside

Land based colleges and SAC Ayrshire

Alison Cook West

Dumfries and Galloway Edinburgh Jonathan Gray West Lothian Fife Forth Valley Borders Newbattle

Highlands and Islands

Judith Henderson Sabhal Mòr Ostaig Glasgow Linda McLeod Lanarkshire

New Governance

Development Programme

A new Governance Development Programme for non-executive board members has just been announced by Scotland’s Colleges to provide support and information to board members during this period of transition to the new regional structure. The new programme will include:

• Regional seminars on key topics for board members including outcome agreements, the board as an employer and the new challenges of partnership working and stakeholder ac-countability

• Details of how your college or region can access free facilitation and support services

• Briefing papers on some of the more detailed or technical issues that board members will want to be aware of

• Webinars providing remote access, either live or recorded, to a range of experts offering advice and ideas on the governance issues facing col-lege boards over the coming months.

Details of the new programme and how to access the services it offers can be found at:

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Regional News

Everyone is awaiting further guidance from the Scottish Government about precisely how the new regional structure is to work but, meantime, colleges across the country have been exploring the possible options available to them:

Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire

Banff and Buchan and Aberdeen Colleges have signed up to a North-East Scotland Colleges Regional Federation Agreement which is intended to allow the two colleges to plan and deliver a fully-coordinated programme of further education opportunities across the North-east.

See details http://www.abcol.ac.uk/news-events/ news.cfm?news_id=17881

Fife

Carnegie College board has announced its wish to enter into discussions with Adam Smith College and the non-land-based provision at Elmwood College with a view to setting up a single college for Fife. The board statement goes on to say ‘we are mindful of the opportunities that remain open to us for a long term collaborative arrangement with wider HE partners in the future and the long-term impact of a tertiary model of learning for Fife communities and economy.’

See details http://www.carnegiecollege.ac.uk/News/ Message-from-College-Board-of-Management.html

Edinburgh

Work is progressing on the merger of the Jewel & Esk, Stevenson and Telford Colleges with effect from later this year.

Highlands and Islands

Board members from the colleges in this area came together recently to discuss what a regional body might look like while still retaining the individual colleges. This area has the added complexity of needing to take account of the existing University of the Highlands and Islands and the fact that some colleges are run by local authorities.

Glasgow

The chairs of the colleges in this region have come together within a Glasgow Colleges’ Strategic Partnership to take the lead in developing a possible regional structure that would complement the work of the colleges. Parallel discussions are also taking place between some of the colleges on possible mergers. Cardonald, Anniesland and Langside Colleges have announced their intention to work towards a merged college. http://thecardonaldcourier.com/2012/03/28/ langside-college-enters-cardonald-merger-talks-as-principal-names-the-date/.

In a separate development, the Board of North Glasgow College announced that it remained fully committed to the cross city Glasgow Colleges’ Strategic Partnership and also planned to initiate discussions with Stow and John Wheatley Colleges to explore the learning and business potential of a three-way merger.

Lanarkshire

Three of the four colleges in Lanarkshire: Cumbernauld College; Motherwell College; and South Lanarkshire College, have proposed a federation model.

See details http://www.motherwell.co.uk/about-us/ federation-of-lanarkshire-colleges

West

The ‘West Region’ colleges (Clydebank, James Watt and Reid Kerr) have submitted a bid for transformation funding to SFC with a view to full merger. The intention is to form one multi-campus college in the West Region with a target ‘vesting date’ of 1 August 2013. Discussions will continue regarding the James Watt College Kilwinning Campus.

Land-Based Colleges

As part of the move to a merger with the Scottish Agricultural College, a public consultation process has been launched including a number of open events to be held in April. The boards will take a final decision on merger in the week beginning 14 May.

Other Regions

Regions which will contain a single college are Dumfries and Galloway, Borders, West Lothian and Central.

Separate arrangements will be put in place for: Newbattle Abbey College and Sabhal Mòr Ostaig

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New Guide for College Board Members

While much of the focus is on the move to a regional structure, all Board members remain accountable for the day-to-day delivery of their colleges. Those responsibilities remain as important as ever and, for most, are likely to last for the next 15 months at least. The Secretary to the Board Community of Practice has just finished an update of the 2006 ASC Guidance for board members and published a handy summary document to replace the old 2007 summary version. This reflects all the new legislation and other requirements placed on board members and provides handy weblinks to key reference material. It can be found at:

http://www.scotlandscolleges.ac.uk/component/option,com_docman/Itemid,78/gid,4502/task,doc_ download/

Scottish Government/Sector Change Teams and

Working Groups

A number of college sector teams or working groups of college principals have been set up to work with the government during the transition to the new structure. The precise roles and remits of these groups are still being worked out but details of the college principals on each group and the government leads are:

Group Programme College Sector Leads Government _Lead

Regionalisation Mergers and structures, governance, quality improvement and assessment, funding prioritisation, funding and performance

Mandy Exley, Jewel & Esk College Rob Wallen, Aberdeen College Members of Funding Group

Melanie Wheldon, SG

Funding Outcome agreements,

regional funding Tony Jakimciw, Dumfries & Galloway College Gordon Paterson, Clydebank College Mhairi Laughlin, West Lothian College Graeme Hyslop, Langside College Hugh Logan, Motherwell College John Spencer, Inverness College UHI

SFC & Skills Development Scotland

Student

Support HE and non-advanced student support Paul Sherrington, Banff and Buchan College Graeme Hyslop, Langside College

Martin Boyle

Learner Journey Improved access and transitions, qualifications, student partnership agreements, community learning and development, careers advice and guidance

Alan Sherry, John Wheatley College Miles Dibsdall, Edinburgh’s Telford College

Mhairi Laughlin, West Lothian College

Gavin Gray

Employability Skills and employment services, employer and economic need, employability fund, opportunities for all

Linda McKay, Forth Valley College Martin McGuire, Cumbernauld College

Hugh McAloon

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Skills Development

Scotland Funding

The Cabinet Secretary wrote to Principals at the end of March 2012 outlining the key objectives and principles of the New SDS College Learning Programme (see http://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/media-centre/press-releases/opportunities-for-all.aspx for the government announcement). Colleges have been asked to bid for the £13.1m fund to provide training and work experience to young people. SDS has since written to all colleges outlining the indicative baseline allocation that individual colleges can expect (accounting for 64% of the total funding pot) and offering them the chance to bid for additional places.

Details of the bidding process were made available through the Public Contracts Scotland Portal on 2 April 2012 and colleges are asked to submit a proposal by 30 April to SDS. The bids will be reviewed by mid-May and contracts issued by the end of May.

Communities of Practice

The staff of colleges have long worked together in informal Communities of Practice (CoPs) to share information and expertise around the sector and Scotland’s Colleges provides support to these CoPs. A number of them are now looking specifically at the issues arising from the move to a regional structure. While this activity is focused on executive rather than non-executive activities, board members may wish to be aware of the work of these groups and ensure their own college is benefiting from them:

• Board Secretaries • Finance

• Human Resources

• Management Information Systems • ICT.

More information on the work of these CoPs will be contained in later newsletters.

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Dates for Your Diary

Here is a list of event dates which will be covering the governance issues affecting the sector. You may wish to attend some of them and simply want to be aware of others:

Date Event Location Contact Details

27/04/2012 Chairs Congress – open to all College

Chairs in Scotland Scotland’s Colleges, Stirling 03/05/2012 Governance Support Programme

Seminar

The Board as Employer. All board members welcome

Carnegie Conference Centre, Dunfermline http://events. scotlandscolleges.ac.uk/ events/show/4151 08/05/2012 Secretary to the Board Community of

Practice Annual Conference Scotland’s Colleges, Stirling http://events.scotlandscolleges.ac.uk/ events/show/4311 09/05/2012 Governance Support Programme

Seminar

Delivering College Outcome Agreements.

All board members welcome

Langside College,

Glasgow http://events.scotlandscolleges.ac.uk/ events/show/4323

16/05/2012 Governance Support Programme Seminar

Stevenson College

Edinburgh http://events.scotlandscolleges.ac.uk/ events/show/4324

Perth College UHI,

Perth http://events.scotlandscolleges.ac.uk/ events/show/4325

31/05/2012 Scotland’s Colleges seminar to hear the experience of Northern Ireland’s when their sector moved to a regional structure

Scotland’s

Colleges, Stirling Details to Follow

The Board as Employer. All board members welcome

Langside College,

Glasgow http://events.scotlandscolleges.ac.uk/ events/show/4153 18/06/2012 Governance Support Programme

Seminar

Leading Through Change. All board members welcome

Scotland’s

Colleges, Stirling http://events.scotlandscolleges.ac.uk/ events/show/4322 21/06/2012 Scotland’s Colleges National Policy

Conference Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh http://conferences.holyrood.com/index. php?option=com_payp al&conference=196&te mplate=sc12

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Scotland’s Colleges is a trading name of both the Scottish Further Education Unit and the Association of Scotland’s Colleges.