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This year’s theme is ‘Shaping the Future’ – looking at how our world will be transformed, what trends and predictions might affect business, work and life, and what their impact might be.

Led by employers and co-ordinated by the Campaign for Learning, the week aims to promote a culture of learning in the workplace.

Apprenticeships

In collaboration with Scotland’s colleges and universities, Skills Development Scotland (SDS) offer a range of apprenticeships for all ages and skills.

Whether you’re an employer seeking to upskill your workforce on the job or an individual wanting to upskill yourself – Apprenticeships.scot has a range of information of available opportunities and apprenticeships.

Sgrùdadh cùise:  More than a decade after leaving school, William Braid thought that a degree wasn’t an option for him – until a Graduate Apprenticeship opportunity came along.

It’s also worth checking with your local college or university to find out more or attend the next employer information session (eventbrite) to hear how you could develop your workforce through opportunities like a Graduate Apprenticeship.

More info

To find out more about retraining opportunities such as apprenticeships, visit Apprenticeships.scot for apprenticeship details, information for employers wanting to upskill their workforce, and case studies of successful work-based learning.

The skills you’ll need in your profession to be successful in 2030 (interactive questionnaire).

For the first time all Scottish colleges, universities and specialist institutions have published British Sign Language (BSL) plans, ahead of the October 2019 target set by Scottish Ministers in the 2017-23 BSL National Plan.

BSL plans set out how institutions will support students who use BSL, with clear and measurable commitment to improvement where necessary. The plans are reviewed annually by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) to make sure inequalities are addressed.

Speaking at a BSL showcase event hosted by SFC and the BSL (Scotland) Act 2015 Partnership, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Richard Lochhead, said:

 “The Scottish Government wants Scotland to be the best place in the world for those who speak BSL to live, work, study and visit.

“Our colleges and universities have a vital role to play in this, ensuring students are able to maximise their potential in post-school education and receive the support they need to do well in their chosen subjects.

“I am pleased to see Scottish institutions leading the way in supporting BSL speakers. We are committed to ensuring every student has a fair chance to access education and to complete their courses, and we will continue to drive forward action on this through our BSL National Plan.”

SFC chief executive, Karen Watt, said:

“This is a fantastic achievement for all Scottish colleges, universities and specialist institutions. SFC is proud to be involved in this work and we are grateful to the BSL users on our steering group who have played a vital role helping institutions develop their own plans.”

Speaking on behalf of the BSL (Scotland) Act 2015 Partnership, Deaf Action spokesperson Alison Hendry, said:

 “It is an exciting time with the BSL plans being published by all further and higher education institutions in Scotland. This will allow members of the BSL-speaking community to be fully involved and empowered to become more confident individuals within the education sector. It has been fantastic to see how pro-active institutions have been in developing and publishing their plans, showing some great examples for the rest of the UK and the world to follow.”

Scotland’s Commissioner for Fair Access, Professor Sir Peter Scott, was joined today by over 130 experts, practitioners and policy makers to mark the launch of a new Framework for Fair Access.

The framework consists of two parts. The first is an online resource for recording and sharing information. The second part is a community of access and participation practitioners -a forum to share and develop best practice  across Scotland.

Professor Scott said: “the framework is designed to produce a step-change in our knowledge about which fair access activities work best. It is also designed to act as a focus, even a rallying point, for grass-roots access and participation practitioners across Scotland.”

The website, he said, would “support a dynamic process of continuous improvement in access practice and research in Scotland”.

Newly appointed forum coordinator, Katie Monk, added: “The practitioners’ forum will connect people together and help further discussion about what works and why.”

Higher Education Minister Richard Lochhead said:

“Education is by far the most effective means we have of improving the life chances of our young people. We are firmly committed to widening access and ensuring that every young person has access to the learning that will provide them with the skills and qualifications they need to meet their aspirations and succeed in life.

Scotland is ahead of the curve in delivering equality of access, with 15.6% of entrants to Scottish universities now coming from the 20% most deprived areas in Scotland – just 0.4% short of our goal for 2021. However, we can do more.

Sharing learning on how best to support disadvantaged learners to realise their potential is key to this and I am delighted to see the education sector in Scotland come together to bring to life one of the key recommendations made by the Commission on Widening Access in the form of the framework”

Karen Watt, Chief Executive of the Scottish Funding Council said:

“This framework brings together the best evidence on ensuring fair access, and will support the many dedicated professionals who deliver this work across the country.

It’s a significant milestone on the road to achieving the ambitions of the Commission on Widening Access to ensure young people in Scotland have the same opportunities to access higher education, no matter their situation.”

Registration is now open for the Scotland’s third annual Fair Access Conference for managers, practitioners and policy makers working in colleges and universities, schools, local authorities, Community Learning and Development (CLD).

The main themes for this year’s conference are mental health and gender-based violence, with focused workshops on carers, care-experienced students, veterans, disabled students, and estranged students, as well as an introduction to Scotland’s Community of Access and Participation Practitioners (SCAPP).

Keynote speakers will include Richard Lochhead, Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science, and Fiona Drouet, founder of the #emilytest campaign.

Hosted by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), Scotland’s Fair Access Conference is a national event focused on progress in widening access to further and higher education is a good-practice sharing event with a choice of workshops, exhibition stalls and networking opportunities.

The event is free but anyone wishing to attend must register on our website by noon on Tuesday 18 June 2019. Register or view the Event Programme.

 

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has published a new report on the movement of students between college and university courses.

The report looks at the academic credit universities give students for achieving Higher National Certificates (HNCs) and Higher National Diplomas (HNDs) at college. The way this credit can be used to progress onto various stages of a degree course is known as articulation.

Today’s report shows that, in 2017-18, just over 7,826 students entered university after gaining HNC/HND qualifications at college. Of these 4,812 were able to move directly into either the second or third year of their university course, a figure that has increased by 10% in the past four years. Overall, HNC/HND articulating students accounted for over a quarter of all students beginning a first degree course at a Scottish university.

There is evidence that articulation makes a significant contribution to fairer access with more than 40% of people going to university from Scotland’s most disadvantaged backgrounds entering via an HNC or HND college course. The report shows that it is also an important route for disabled and care experienced learners. Additionally, it plays a part in increasing ethnic diversity in Scotland’s universities with almost 8% of articulating students coming from black and minority ethnic backgrounds.

The report is the first set of statistics to be produced from a revised National Articulation Database. The database has been designed to support more collaborative working between colleges and universities and to provide the evidence needed to create new pathways and better choices for learners.

Commenting on todays’ publication, Karen Watt, Chief Executive of the Scottish Funding Council, said:

“This is an important report which uses new methods developed by SFC to give us the best understanding yet of this aspect of the learner journey. Articulation is one of the increasingly varied options offered by Scotland’s colleges and universities to improve the learner journey. There is more to be done to understand how it can be made to work even better but it is really encouraging to see the contribution it already makes to diversity and fairer access.”

Derek Smeall, vice principal for curriculum, planning and performance at New College Lanarkshire, said:

“The revised National Articulation Database has enormous potential. In the future it will provide definitive evidence upon which colleges and universities can further develop progression routes for learners.”

Richard McGookin, Director of Planning at Heriot-Watt University, said:

“Routes from college to university provide an important destination for college leavers and an increasing fraction of the university’s intake, so it is important we can understand in which subjects and courses and with which colleges articulation is working for us and where there might be opportunities to do more.

“As illustrated in this report, the National Articulation Database is a resource which provides an unprecedented level of robust detail in a transparent and user-friendly way to help us build and maintain the routes and guide and support students along them.”

Read the full report: Articulation from Scottish Colleges to Scottish Universities 2017-18.

The CAN DO Fest is an annual programme of events to help entrepreneurs, investors and innovators to develop their ideas into new products and businesses. Alongside the complementary VentureFest, the CAN DO Fest also exists to showcase the very best of Scotland’s entrepreneurial scene.

Between the end of April and the middle of May events will be held across the country. Headline CAN DO Fest events include the Entrepreneurial Scotland Annual Conference, an Impact Summit and a series of Entrepreneurial Masterclasses. Participants can also get involved in pitch days, workshops, hackathons, seminars and networking events.

The Scottish Funding Council is an active contributor to the Scotland CAN DO initiative. Working alongside other skills and enterprise agencies SFC is helping to provide a “Team Scotland” approach to supporting and promoting innovation and entrepreneurship.

You can find out more and get details of all the events in the Scotland CAN DO Fest calendar on the festival’s website.

Cyber Scotland Week (22 – 28 April) draws together events across the country to showcase the innovation taking place in the sector, while raising awareness of good cyber resilience practice and promoting a career within the industry.

Cyber security is the protection of computer systems. It takes many forms, preventing theft or damage to hardware (physical infrastructure), software (programs or apps) and electronic data (private or sensitive information).

Along with the UK’s other funding councils, SFC provides funding towards Jisc, which runs the world-class high-speed Janet Network on behalf of research and education in the UK. As the provider of the Janet network, Jisc is in a unique position in being able to provide a comprehensive set of security products and services, including the central coordination of cyber threat intelligence from the education sector, across the Janet infrastructure, from National Research and Education Networks across the globe, and central coordination for security incidents.

SFC has also worked with Scottish institutions on the development of a joint-ICT strategy for the sector, and supported the launch of a shared Chief Information Security Officer service.

Scotland is also known for its cyber security research expertise. SFC funds the Scottish Informatics and Computing Science Alliance (SICSA) research pool, which has a Cyber-security work stream that helped advise the Scottish Government during the development of its own Cyber-Resilience strategy.

SFC and Scottish Government also funded a ‘network integrator’ post in the SICSA research pool to understand and map the sector’s cyber-resilience research capabilities. Part of the role of this post is to support the cyber-security community in meeting the demand for trained staff in this area, through the development of courses and awareness-raising events.

Edinburgh Napier University also plays host to The Cyber Academy, which aims to integrate research, innovation and teaching around Cyber security, and also runs the annual Big Data in Cyber Security International Conference.

However, as we incorporate more technology in our lives, the risk of computer systems, the Internet and wireless networks such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and smart phones being disrupted increases, not to mention the potential impacts of this disruption.

Organisations’ own IT teams and national organisations like Jisc are constantly monitoring and improving their cyber security efforts, but no system is perfect. Cyber security also relies on users making smart decisions to safeguard their data – whether at work or at home.

£400,000 was lost to cyber crime in Orkney alone last year, according to Police Scotland, who estimated up to 90 percent of successful attacks come down to human error by the victim.

Check out Cyber Scotland Week 2019 for more information and events being hosted throughout Scotland this week, including Cyber Security for Business seminars, a College Cyber Security Conference in Stirling, and a Cyber Security for the SME event hosted by Perth College UHI.

Other resources:

Following sparqs’ recent conference in Edinburgh, the third annual Student Engagement Awards were also held to recognise and celebrate good practice in student engagement across Scottish colleges and universities.

The winners and runners up:

University Impact

An initiative delivered by a students’ association, or led by a students’ association in partnership with their university, which has had a significant impact on enhancing the student learning experience.

Winner

Peer Learning and Support at Edinburgh – Edinburgh University Students’ Association and The University of Edinburgh.

Runners up

College Impact

Same as above but in partnership with their college.

Winner

Student Partnership Agreement: A Dynamic Approach Using an Online Ideas System – City of Glasgow College Students’ Association and City of Glasgow College.

Runners up

Shaping the Curriculum

A co-curricular initiative or project (focusing, for example, on students working in partnership with their college or university on curriculum design, curriculum delivery or assessment) which has had a positive impact on student learning across the college or university.

Winner

A Whole Institution Approach on Embedding Intercultural Skills into the Curriculum at GCU – Glasgow Caledonian University Students’ Association.

Runners up

Engaging Diversely

An initiative delivered by a students’ association, or led by a students’ association in partnership with their college or university, which demonstrates a clear commitment to developing student engagement activities that reflect the diversity of the student population.

Winner

Make a Difference – Dynamic Learning Initiative – City of Glasgow College.

Runners up

University Course Rep of the Year

Winner

Finlay Allmond, University of Stirling.

College Course Rep of the Year

Winner

Dionne Netherington, Perth College UHI.

For more info on the award winners, see: https://www.sparqs.ac.uk/culture.php?page=747.

Student Partnerships in Quality Scotland (sparqs) is an independent charitable organisation, funded by SFC, to deliver Scottish Government objectives related to quality and student engagement and participation in colleges and universities.

History was made yesterday afternoon when Edinburgh College beat the University of Edinburgh in a gripping final to the annual competition for the Queen’s Park Shield.

The University took the lead with a low free kick, but the College hit back swiftly with a swirling set-piece goal of its own, leaving the tie poised and the scores level at half time. The University emerged from the break the stronger team and were rewarded with a well taken second goal. Just as the University looked to be comfortably seeing the game out, the College equalised with a thunderous header from a corner. After 90 minutes, it took a nail-biting penalty shoot out to decide who would lift the trophy, with the honours finally going to Edinburgh College.

The drama on the field lived up to the historic significance of the event. Yesterday marked the first ever win for a college team in the 92-year history of a competition that originally only included Scotland’s four ancient universities. Nowadays the Queens Park Shield is much more widely contested and the competition is open to every university and college in Scotland.

Edinburgh College’s achievement also represents a watershed in the bid by SFC-funded Scottish Student Sport (SSS) to create greater equality of sporting opportunity between colleges and universities. To support this ambition, last year SFC announced a new four-year investment in SSS of £465,000.

As well as organising cross-sector competitions such as the Queens Park Shield, Scottish Student Sport has been helping to create a level playing field by setting up new college sport structures. Together with SSS’s encouragement of partnerships with universities, this is creating a sports environment in colleges that is both inclusive and similar in quality to that enjoyed by university students.

Andre Reibig, who leads on SFC’s work with Scottish Student Sport, said: “The benefits of student participation in sport run much deeper than you would think. They include helping to prevent students from dropping out of courses, improving mental health, promoting diversity and contributing to better success rates. It’s really important that these benefits are open to every college and university student in Scotland. It’s great to see Edinburgh College being a beacon for what can be achieved.”

EIT Digital, a leading European organisation for digital innovation and entrepreneurial education, has opened a Scottish satellite office in Edinburgh.

EIT Digital is one of eight Innovation Communities of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology. It has 10 centres across Europe, including one in London, with the Scottish office being the first satellite office to be opened in the UK.

The new office, jointly funded by EIT Digital, the Scottish Funding Council and Scottish Enterprise, will be hosted by the University of Edinburgh’s Bayes Centre. The office will support knowledge exchange, help to develop skills in Scottish businesses and promote Scotland to investors. It will also contribute to achieving the Scottish Government’s ambition to deepen relationships between Scotland and the EU.

Speaking at this week’s launch, EIT Digital chief executive Willem Jonker, said: “This new Edinburgh satellite will allow EIT Digital to deepen the connections with the Scottish innovation ecosystem and to intensify our relationship with the Scottish private and public sectors.”

Scottish innovation minister Ivan McKee said: “For decades, Scotland has participated in European projects, led strategic partnerships and welcomed people from across the EU and around the world. We have always valued the resulting skills, diversity and talent that this has brought into our economy and society.

“Regardless of the outcome of Brexit, Scotland will continue to be an outward-looking, open and welcoming country.

“This project will allow academia and businesses to work together to drive innovation. It also enables Scotland to raise the profile of its digital assets across Europe, helping to attract both inward talent and investment while connecting Scotland’s businesses to experts and potential collaborators.”

The new satellite office will host a new doctoral training centre with a focus on financial technology and cyber security. Its students will be supported by universities across Scotland with the first student expected to start later this year.

Gap narrows for deprived students

Scotland’s Fair Access Framework

Last year the University of Glasgow made the headlines when it revealed nearly 20 percent of Scottish entrants to its School of Medicine were from the most deprived areas of Scotland – numbers that were touted as unprecedented among the UK’s 34 medical schools.

Four of the five students featured in this coverage, who came through the University’s own Glasgow Access Programme, got an early start to medicine through the REACH programme – one of two national schools programmes funded by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC).

Funded by SFC since 2010, the REACH programme works with schools in Scotland’s most deprived communities to identify potential student candidates for study in Law, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, Dentistry and Economics.

Widening Access perspective

Dr Neill Croll, Head of Widening Access at the University of Glasgow can still remember being called to a meeting at SFC in 2010 with colleagues from around Scotland to discuss a pilot programme to help disadvantaged students get through medicine.

“My first reaction was to wonder what the academic schools would think of it. Programmes like this had been attempted before, but they hadn’t really achieved much because they hadn’t been set up with much thought to what the real barriers or gaps were”.

Dr Croll says the difference this time is the academic schools are fully behind the programme, and the partnerships they have with secondary schools are more effective as a result.

“Our team has a good partnership with the academic schools but school support is absolutely crucial as well. We have contact teachers for each of the schools we’re in and they’re a key link between us and pupils, because it’s the teachers we rely on to identify who’s got potential. They know their pupils and the programme has performed very well because of that link.”

The initial stages of the programme involved about six months of discussion with authorities and schools to get them on board with the programme and see what kind of involvement would be feasible, he says.

“From these discussions we were able to start working with S4/S5/S6 students across four subjects at the University, and the result has been participants from these courses successfully studying these subjects here.”

In 2017 the first cohort of REACH medical entrants at the University of Glasgow graduated and their performance “completely busts” any old myths about adjusted offers, he says.

“Our graduates this year performed exactly at the same level as those coming from more affluent areas. Now the professional schools are saying the quality of graduates has actually increased, because there’s that much more diversity in the student cohort, which better prepares graduates when they go out to practice medicine in a diverse world.

Croll says REACH has also made an impact on schools and local authorities. Those that might have doubted the programme changed their belief system once they saw pupils succeeding where they hadn’t previously, giving them confidence to encourage the next generation to follow.

“If something is working then word gets round pretty quick – even more quickly, if it’s not.”

Student perspective

Orla Macpherson became involved with the REACH programme after deciding in secondary school that she wanted to pursue a career in medicine.

“Around my third year I started to think about what I wanted to do. I’d seen a few documentaries and thought it would be amazing to do medicine. It’s a career where you continue to learn and develop even when you’ve finished university and I enjoyed biology and science subjects at school.”

Through the REACH programme Orla attended two to three workshops per year that were focused around supporting her application to study medicine at the University, and ensuring she was on track to get the required grades.

“Probably the highlight of those workshops for me was the summer school programme, which is hosted at the university for a week. It coincides with the university’s general Open Day so as well as getting shown around you’re also getting to see lots of mini-lectures from doctors in different specialities.”

“You meet a wide variety of people from both medical and non-medical backgrounds who share different perspectives with you about studying medicine, and even just what university life is like, which is really useful.”

The programme also helps students prepare for required tests like the University Clinical Aptitude Test (UCAT). This can be a particular barrier for students who don’t come from schools or families well-acquainted with the process of applying to medical schools, and who are unlikely to have anyone to explain the application process or even how to prepare for the test.

“It’s not very well known – it was never mentioned at school and the fee ranges from £65 to £87. That’s not something everyone can afford straight up, but a REACH tutor can help in terms of discussing payment options with you like the bursary scheme, on top of the interview preparation workshop they provide.”

That makes a huge difference she says, because while the information might be out there it’s not always clear where to look.

“Probably the best part of the programme is having that person to touch base with you.

Someone who can provide that information, support and encouragement to keep you going the whole way – from the decision to study medicine to the application process,” she says.

“You always know you’ve got someone supporting you and that’s really important if nobody else in your school or family has done something like this before.”

Barriers are different for every student, and some still struggle around expectations to be on full-time placement and keep up with studying and coursework through their fourth and fifth years, particularly those who need to work to support family or have significant travel costs, but support services and financial aid is also available through the University.

Orla says there’s still work to be done to reach those who have the most barriers to higher education and access to medicine, but the programme is making great progress.
Now in her third year of medicine at Glasgow, she has returned the favour by helping out with the REACH workshops she benefitted from and is actively involved in campus events as student mentor and other related activities and societies within medicine. “It’s just great to be able to help out and give back,” she says.

Teacher perspective

REACH pupils at St Peter the Apostle High School in West Dumbartonshire.From a roll of around 1600 at St Peter the Apostle High School in West Dumbartonshire, roughly 50-60 pupils put themselves forward for the REACH programme each year, says Mick Dolan.

A teacher for 40 years, Mick is the local school coordinator for the REACH programme and part of his role involves promoting the programme to young people.

“Our role is to invite the kids to show an interest and take part. REACH makes a substantial difference in getting them into university, but even so the work required of them is substantial in itself. So there is still a bit of a filtering process, because we always want to students be engaged in the programme that’s right for them.”

REACH provides students with a real awareness of what they’re getting themselves in for, he says.

“We do have a number of kids who make an informed choice not to continue, but that in itself is a plus because if studying law is not going to engage you, then it’s far better to find that out in school.”

Those who go through take part in organised tutor sessions in-school, with assistance from the University. Tutors guide them through the programme and they have to complete a short assignment targeted at getting them to focus on what the subject area is focused on and how they see themselves developing.

The programme continues with a university visit in the first year but Mick says the second year is most significant, when pupils continue with school sessions and an assignment towards a week spent at the university in June.

“That week at the university really crystallises all their ambition and helps give them all the information they need to complete their UCAS application in sixth year.”

Beyond helping students into these subjects, the programme delivers a number of wider benefits, he says.

“First of all it creates an ambitious group of achievers. Children begin to find each other in a way they may not have in a big school, all expressing a determination to do well. That benefits us as a school and their wider peer group benefit from having a group of pupils expressing a definite intention to do very best that they can.”

He also speaks highly of the University’s widening access team.

“The team who run the programme are very supportive and always willing to help and engage with pupils. They’re not just there as administrators but are very actively engaged with the kids – they know what their ambitions are, what their essay submissions are like, and how they’re engaging with the programme.

“Neil [Croll] and Scott [Iguchi-Sherry, Senior REACH Programme Coordinator] have been two key factors. Neil has a very grounded vision of what the programme should do in the way of support for kids and Scott’s day-to-day engagement with it is fantastic.

Having taught for 40 years, he believes the success of the programme speaks for itself.

“When I started teaching here it was an absolute rarity to have a pupil accepted for medicine. The year that my son finished we had two people go into medicine, two in dentistry, four in law and one in veterinary medicine. That would’ve been absolutely unheard of before the REACH programme – it’s opened up doors for kids in a way that’s never been done before.”

Mick says one of the programme’s big successes is seeing kids who go through finish their courses.

“That in itself is really significant for me because I live and work locally. So, for a number of years it was a big frustration bumping into able kids I’d taught, only to discover they’d given up on the course they’d started out on.”

“For me now to be talking to kids studying these subjects at university is really quite rewarding.”

The Scottish Framework for Fair Access will be launched at the University of Edinburgh on Tuesday 7 May.

The Framework has been developed in response to Recommendation 2 of the Commission on Widening Access and comprises two pillars:

The launch event, taking place between 9.30 – 12.30pm, will provide delegates with the opportunity to hear from those involved in the Framework’s design and development, and keynote addresses from Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science, Richard Lochhead MSP and the Commissioner for Fair Access, Sir Professor Peter Scott.

An optional workshop focusing on the evaluation of access interventions will take place from 12.30 – 1.30pm immediately following the launch.

Event Programme [PDF]

The event is free but anyone wishing to attend must register via the online form by 12pm on Tuesday, 30 April 2019.

New figures from the Scottish Funding Council show that a record 296,695 students studied higher education courses at Scotland’s universities and colleges in 2017-18. Today’s report also shows a record number of Scottish domiciled students entering the system last year at first degree level (37,410).

The report, which looks at the provision of higher education and student attainment over a ten-year period, additionally found that the number of students gaining a qualification reached an all-time high. Of the 104,160 students leaving university or college with a higher education qualification, almost 67% achieved graduate-level qualifications.

Karen Watt, Chief Executive of the Scottish Funding Council, said:

“The good news from these figures is that more students living in Scotland are benefitting from higher education courses than ever before. For students graduating from our world-leading universities and colleges this means better life chances and career prospects. For Scotland’s economy it means a more highly-skilled and adaptable work force.”

Today also sees the publication of Scottish Funding Council statistics on the numbers of students eligible for funding at Scotland’s 19 universities.

The report shows that between 2014-15 and 2018-19, there was a 17.8% increase in the number of taught postgraduate students, a 7.6% increase in the number of research postgraduate students, and a 1.9% increase in the number of undergraduate students.

Over 40% of the increase in taught postgraduates was due to increased enrolments on Initial Teacher Education courses. A change in tuition fee arrangements in 2017-18, enabling taught postgraduate students to borrow up to £5,500 for tuition fees and a further £4,500 for living expenses is also likely to have contributed to the 4.2% increase in taught postgraduate students numbers in 2018-19.

Both reports as well as a statistical release on college staffing data can be found on the SFC website.

SFC is hosting a British Sign Language (BSL) Showcase Event on Thursday 9 May, at the Hilton Carlton Hotel in Edinburgh, in conjunction with BSL Scotland Act 2015 Partnership.

BSL invitation on YouTube.

This free event is being run to promote British Sign Language plans within colleges and universities, and provide an opportunity for institutions and agencies to share their experiences on the introduction of BSL plans and how best we can use them to achieve progress.

It will be fully supported by BSL interpreters – staff and students who use BSL are particularly encouraged to join us on the day to take part in the discussion.

Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science Richard Lochhead MSP will provide the keynote address.

Colleges and Universities will then talk about the development of these plans and how they will be used to meet the needs of BSL students. They will also cover the challenges faced by institutions. This session will then be opened up to a panel to support an interactive discussion with the audience.

Later in the day students and interpreters will also share their experiences outlining what works well for them as well as any issues they face.

Event programme [PDF]

Lunch and refreshments will be provided throughout. Any dietary or access requirements can be noted on the accompanying registration form.

The event is free but anyone wishing to attend must register on our website by noon on Wednesday, 1 May 2019.

Four Scottish projects have been chosen to prepare final bids for the UK-wide Strength in Places Fund.

UK Research and Innovation will support the shortlisted projects to develop their case for up to £50 million of investment to drive substantial economic growth in particular areas of the country. The bids will be considered before the end of this year.

The University of Strathclyde is leading a proposal to boost a “bio-revolution” in the Central Belt by the development of new biology-based products and platforms.

The University of Glasgow is working on its bid to create a Waterfront Innovation Campus focused on the photonics, optoelectronics and quantum technology industries growing in Glasgow.

A second University of Glasgow-led project could be on track to establish the Living Lab in precision medicine, bringing medical science and innovation excellence into NHS Scotland.

Finally, FinTech Scotland is looking to succeed at the final bid stage with it plan to create a Global Centre of Excellence in Open Banking in Edinburgh.

The Strength in Places Fund is designed to make it possible for regions to tap into the world-class research and innovation carried out in universities across the UK. The fund brings together research organisations, businesses and local leaders, supporting them in working together to create new jobs and build economic prosperity in their areas.

Chief Executive of UK Research and Innovation, Professor Sir Mark Walport, said:

“Our clear vision is to ensure we benefit everyone through knowledge, talent and ideas. Significant support through the Strength in Places Fund will further catalyse economic potential across the country by bringing researchers, industry and regional leadership together to drive sustained growth through world-class research and innovation.”

Stuart Fancey, Director of Research and Innovation at the Scottish Funding Council, said:

“Competition to be shortlisted was incredibly fierce and there had to be strong evidence that the projects would have a positive impact on their regions.

Scotland has world-leading research in each of its 19 universities and exciting business opportunities to build on, so Scottish-based bids were strong contenders in the process. I am delighted to see these projects making it through to the final stage. The Scottish Funding Council will continue to work hard to support them and I look forward to further good news towards the end of the year.”

The Strength in Places Fund is a UKRI programme in partnership with the Scottish Funding Council, the Office for Students and the higher education funding bodies of Wales and Northern Ireland.

A new SFC-funded £1.6 million centre for animal disease surveillance and research means faster, more reliable and more efficient diagnoses of livestock animal diseases for the whole of Scotland.

Based near Edinburgh, the new Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) Veterinary and Analytical Laboratory expects to analyse more than a million samples a year.

Diagnosing disease faster has the potential to improve response times to potential outbreaks to safeguard both animal and human health and protect the food chain

Opened today by Mairi Gougeon MSP, Minister for Rural Affairs and the Natural Environment, the SRUC Veterinary and Analytical Laboratory brings together new technology, robotics and human expertise to create a centre for excellence in animal disease surveillance and testing.

The Scottish Government supported the creation of the new laboratory through a low-cost loan from SFC’s Financial Transactions Programme.

Ms Gougeon said:

“The new SRUC central laboratory will enhance veterinary surveillance in Scotland and will create a centre of excellence at the Moredun Institute, further strengthening Scotland’s capacity and expertise in animal health.  The laboratory will help to protect and develop our valuable livestock sector and the contribution it makes to the rural economy, I look forward to seeing how this work progresses in the future.”

Martin Fairbairn, Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive of the Scottish Funding Council, said:

“The new centre and the partnership between SRUC and the Moredun Research Institute is very good news for the rural sector in Scotland. The Scottish Funding Council’s £1.6 million support for the new laboratory underlines our commitment to cutting edge research and innovation as an essential part of Scotland’s future prosperity.”

Wayne Powell, Principal and Chief Executive of SRUC, said

“Animal health is a cornerstone of a thriving rural economy and the new SRUC Veterinary and Analytical Laboratory offers a step-change in disease surveillance for the whole of the country. Working with the excellent team at the Moredun Institute, this centre of excellence offers us new opportunities for research and collaboration. Partnerships like ours are the future of rural technology research for Scotland.”

Diagnosing disease faster has the potential to improve response times to potential outbreaks to safeguard both animal and human health and protect the food chain.

The SRUC Veterinary and Analytical Laboratory is based at the Moredun Research Institute at the Pentlands Science Park in Midlothian. The laboratory brings together SRUC’s diagnostic and analytical teams from around the Midlothian area – as well as Perthshire and the Borders – into a single centre for the first time.

SFC played host to top UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) officials last week for discussions around Scotland’s research and innovation strengths.

UKRI’s Chief Executive Professor Sir Mark Walport met with SFC Chief Executive Karen Watt and Director of Research and Innovation Dr Stuart Fancey to discuss Scotland’s strengths and the active partnership between SFC and UKRI.

During his visit Sir Mark also met with two Edinburgh-based life sciences companies, Synpromics Ltd and RoslinCT.

On the same day, SFC hosted a seminar chaired by UKRI Chair Sir John Kingman on the UK Government’s target of increasing R&D investment to 2.4% of GDP by 2027,  attended by a range of representatives from Scotland’s research, business and innovation sectors.

Sir John and Sir Mark were invited to dinner at Bute House, hosted by the Deputy First Minister John Swinney for discussion with Ministers on working together to achieve the goals of both Scottish and UK Governments.

Speaking after his visit, Sir Mark said:

“UKRI has a close working partnership with SFC and it was great to meet Karen Watt and Stuart Fancey to reflect on that relationship, and Scotland’s world-class research base, which makes a particularly significant contribution to the UK’s research excellence.”

“The research done in Scotland is of the highest quality.  It was a pleasure to meet two exciting Scottish bioscience companies, RoslinCT and Synpromics Ltd, who are turning gene and cell therapy research into economic and medical reality.”

“Sir John and I were also delighted to be able to discuss our shared agendas for research, innovation and international reach with Deputy First Minister John Swinney and his ministerial colleagues. This was informed by a broader discussion on the UK’s R&D investment goals and Scotland’s research, business and innovation communities.”

Karen Watt, SFC chief executive said:

“It was fantastic to meet with Sir Mark and Sir John, and we had a very productive discussion on Scotland’s strengths in research and its commercialisation, as well as our role in achieving the 2.4% target.

“Scotland’s research productivity exceeds the UK average. However, business R&D investment has traditionally been concentrated in the south. To meet the UK target and ensure that the benefits of research are felt by all, it will be crucial that we help to attract R&D investment, both public and private, to all parts of Scotland.”

“This is an ambitious target that will require concerted efforts from all parties. However, with our world-class universities and innovation focus, Scotland is well-positioned to take advantage of the benefits the increased investment by UKRI will bring for our economy.”

Care Day 2019

The balance between care and study

Blog – Going Higher and Further for Student Carers

Blog – Who Cares? Scotland and Care Day 2019

An award designed to improve the experience of student carers studying at college has been launched at City of Glasgow College.

Administered by the Carers Trust Scotland (CTS), the award incentives and encourages colleges to adopt a sustainable, whole institution approach to identifying, supporting and reporting on student carers.

SFC awarded £121,126 in funding to CTS in 2018, towards its work to help universities and colleges better support student carers with ‘The Going Higher and Further for Student Carers’ programme.

Senior Policy/Analysis Officer Anna Wallace, who represented SFC at the launch said it was an excellent event with speakers from City of Glasgow College, Carers Trust Scotland, SFC, GCU, CDN, Borders College as well as a Student Carer.

“It was great to see what work is already underway to support student carers, but also how much more can be done by working towards the Going Further Award, which is free to participate in thanks to our funding.

“SFC is delighted to help launch Going Further as a framework for colleges to provide the best support required for their student carers, and we look forward to seeing all colleges sign up to it, to help students with caring responsibilities achieve their full potential, in spite of any additional challenges they may experience.”

For more information, see: https://carers.org/going-further-scotland.

SFC data for 2016-17 shows that:

In a challenging public sector funding environment, the SFC is pleased to be retaining teaching and research grants across the university sector at the same level as last year, while increasing funding for the college sector to meet the costs of national bargaining for lecturers and support staff. This year’s funding announcement also sees the SFC increasing funding for student support, enabling us to implement the recommendations of the Scottish Government’s Review of Student Support.

Commenting on the announcements, Chief Executive Karen Watt said:

“Against a backdrop of increasing funding pressures, the Scottish Funding Council is continuing to invest in learning and teaching and research excellence. We are also committed to ensuring that our students have the right support to allow them to fulfil their potential at the institutions we fund.”

The SFC publishes indicative funding allocations for the college and university sectors to enable them to begin their planning for the forthcoming academic year. Final allocations will be announced in May.

The Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science, Richard Lochhead, has today announced a further £10.98m of investment in the Construction Scotland Innovation Centre (CSIC).

The investment from the Scottish Funding Council, Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise will allow CSIC to build on the foundations of a highly successful first five years and support its Phase 2 mission to mainstream innovation in construction, leading to improved productivity and growth within the sector.

Speaking at an event to promote innovation in the sector, Richard Lochhead said:

“The construction industry is a core sector of the Scottish economy, providing infrastructure to businesses across all sectors of the economy.

Our vision is for a Scotland where innovation is an intrinsic part of our culture, our society and our economy.  This relies on a pipeline of knowledge and skills from universities, colleges and research institutes.  Fostering connections between the worlds of industry and academia is vital in making that vision a reality for the construction sector as in others.

“This £10.98 million funding from the Scottish Government, via the Scottish Funding Council and the Enterprise Agencies, will allow the CSIC to continue its excellent work and important activities in the innovative construction landscape, to the benefit of the whole of Scotland and beyond.”