Colleges of the Future

Prior to summer, the Scottish Government, Colleges Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council launched a workstream named “Colleges of the Future”. National union representatives and local lay representatives have been asked to attend workshops in relation to this workstream. We are concerned about the structure of this project, including the ‘evidence base’ being used. Whilst EIS-FELA’s longstanding position is that further education should offer a wider curriculum than ‘skills training’, it seems this workstream is focussing on attempting to offer a narrower version of further education because of budget constraints. Instead of evidencing why the sector needs more investment – and the socio-economic benefits this generates – the joint trade unions and NUS Scotland are concerned the workstream will be used as a basis of more cuts under the auspices of public sector reform.