Regional Tertiary Pathfinders

The South of Scotland (SoS) – Digital Skills Pathfinder, jointly led by Borders College and Dumfries and Galloway College, aims to enhance regional competitiveness by improving digital opportunities for post-16 learners in the region.   

Key achievements of the pilot include delivering digital upskilling provision in hospitality and the construction sector; a newly developed offer of core/meta skills for Business and Enterprise students; and updating the digital element in the curriculum for Electrical Installation and Motor Vehicle courses for the academic year 2023-24. In addition, a joint curriculum development plan has been established to meet the digital needs of Health and Social Care sector employers.   

The project’s digital offer is showcased on the colleges’ websites and signposted to schools at key points in the academic year.  This includes courses and the highly successful “Meet the Learner events” which have been offered to bring employers and learners together and promote inclusivity. Five “Meet the learner events” were held in 2023, allowing learners at different levels of study (School, Apprenticeships, College, University) to share their experiences in relation to selecting a digital programme of study at school, college and university. A further programme is planned for Spring 2024 working with the regional DYW partners and schools. An interactive provision map of digital skills training for employers will be published in early 2024. 

A partnership between Dumfries and Galloway College, the University of the West of Scotland and Dumfries and Galloway Council, this pilot project has made progress in it’s ambition to deliver a broader range of programmes and integrated pathways for learners from school through to degree level provision.   

Through enhanced regional partnership working, with the Education team in the Local Authority and the region’s Deputy Headteachers, the project partners identified a need for, and developed, two new integrated degree pathways that have now been launched for the academic year 2023-24: the BSc Cybersecurity and BA Business.   

An agreement is in place between the institutions for a shared resource model to underpin efficient delivery. The partners are looking to apply the learning generated through the initial two new degree pathways into other sectors, and discussions are now being taken forward to explore opportunities in Health and Social Care. 

This project, jointly led by NESCol and RGU, aims to deepen pre-existing partnership agreements and approaches between the two institutions to ensure the establishment of an industry-informed and student-centred sustainable education and skills infrastructure within the North-East. It is critical that this infrastructure is agile and responsive to challenges facing the region and the emerging job opportunities of the future.  

A series of joint meetings have taken place to identify new learner pathways from the college to RGU and to maximise and develop articulation agreements. New learner pathways have been identified in ten curriculum areas, and colleagues from both institutions are working collaboratively to look at HN frameworks for curriculum mapping and to identify pathways from senior phase into RGU – i.e. HNC Business and in key subject areas where no existing degree articulation routes exist. 

A joint marketing and recruitment working group has been established to take forward marketing actions relating to institutional websites. This will include material for events and potential for collaboration on recruitment events, such as RGU’s Access To programme and NESCol’s Schools’ Links offering to ensure clear and joined up messaging around pathways and careers. Joint meetings with Widening Access and Student Recruitment teams are also taking place to ensure an increased knowledge of the offers, facilities, student support and articulation pathways available for students. 

Partnership working between Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeenshire Council, NESCol and the two universities in the NE is at the heart of this project designed to enhance the senior phase offer for young people. Three tests of change are being piloted and tested.  

The introduction and further development of HNC opportunities for S6 pupils. The AY 2022-23 pilot was tested successfully with one school. Destinations of successful students completing the HNC Business course are being collated, and it is understood that almost all those who completed have started degree level studies. An enhanced pilot has been initiated for AY 2023-24, with six city schools participating. A key contributor to this success was working with LAs on their timetable alignment. Ongoing work is taking place for AY 2024-25 with the ambition to offer a selection of HNC/Level 7 qualifications across the region.  

A winter leavers’ programme, which aims to provide, practical, appropriate progression routes to employment or higher-level study, has been developed. A short-life working group led the design and delivery of practical programmes as an alternative to S5 within school, for those winter leavers. This was developed with increased support from SDS and DYWNE. Key tasks included reviewing college data for this group of learners, designing course aims, structure, content, contextualised core skills, meta skills development, progression, referral and selection of pupils and employer engagement. Applications open in December 2023 with partnership responsibilities identified for promotion and recruitment, delivery and quality assurance, employer engagement, career advice and support and progression routes. 

Critical to the success of this project has been the Strategic Working Group, established in July 2023, ensuring a joint approach to senior phase and pathway development, linked to growth areas in the region, identifying school engagement gaps and establishing regional priority projects. This group will be a legacy of the project. It has already identified other joint areas of work for the future, including collaboration between the College and Aberdeenshire Council to support unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in Fraserburgh/ Peterhead area. A similar approach with Aberdeen City is being progressed. 

Robert Gordon University in collaboration with the University of Aberdeen, NESCol, Moray UHI, NHS Grampian/H& SC Partnerships, the Scottish Ambulance Service and private employers, are working to provide a coherent plan and mapping of the provisioning of simulation needs across the region. Key health and social care stakeholders and education providers were engaged to agree an operational definition of simulation education and to provide data to enable a mapping of existing simulation learning and infrastructure in the region. 

Data collection across partners has enabled a joint understanding of what provision and infrastructure exists, identify where there is unmet need and to help anticipate future requirement. The data collected will support understanding of career opportunities and progression pathways to help ensure that existing and incoming staff have access to regional simulation infrastructure through their learning and career pathways. This is informing the Simulation Roadmap, which will support regional planning and provision of simulation infrastructure and simplify the simulation landscape to help the region develop a sustainable health and social care workforce.