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Good evaluation is a fundamental part of the Scottish Funding Council’s ambition of creating a connected, agile, and sustainable tertiary education and research system for Scotland.
In 2024, the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) established a dedicated team to act as a Centre for Excellence in Evaluation, providing leadership and expertise to support effective evaluation and impact measurement across the organisation. Our approach is underpinned by the principles of rigour, inclusivity, collaboration and transparency.
Our recent report, based on a retrospective review of SFCs investment in the College Development Network (CDN) between 2021/2022 and 2023/24 offered an opportunity to demonstrate these principles in practice. The approach considered what had been delivered by CDN, the extent to which activities had met the agreed funding outcomes, the impact of the activities, and whether the services provided by CDN are meeting the current and future needs of colleges in Scotland. We used mixed methods including scoping of activities, analysis of performance data cross-referenced with outcomes and SFC priorities, a survey, and interviews.
The review was the culmination of working closely with internal and external stakeholders, including other SFC funded organisations who work with CDN, college representatives and CDN network leads. Speaking with a range of stakeholders throughout this review highlighted an innate need to share their stories and find ways to demonstrate nuanced impact that acknowledges the complexity of interwoven threads in the tertiary education sector.
From development to dissemination, we worked with CDN to apply suitable approaches to exploring value and sharing key messages. Ongoing dialogue and mutual reflection on learning points helped us to identify relevant contextual factors which may influence the perceived value of the CDN.
And in continuing to support collaboration and transparency, the review led to the creation of our new evaluation summaries which provide brief reports of our work, highlighting key learning which may be applicable for wider practice.
Disentangling the threads
CDN is the quality-improvement and skills development agency for colleges in Scotland, supporting the SFC in delivering its statutory duties to secure coherent, high-quality provision and enhance the quality of this provision. The review process highlighted that central to CDN’s delivery approach was partnership working.
One of the ongoing challenges for the evaluator was the disentanglement of one agency’s role from that of other agencies. Exploring the parameters of different organisations’ roles within areas of work, metaphorically untangling the threads of contribution, is challenging -particularly where roles are interdependent, for example in CDN’s role as intermediary, brokering relationships or a facilitator supporting dissemination of messages. One of the report’s key recommendations acknowledged the importance of SFC and CDN continuing to work together to support clarity and communication in defining roles.
Following the threads of value
Perceptions of an agency’s role are interwoven with activity delivery and stakeholder perceptions of the activity’s value. Initial scoping identified over 180 artefacts created over the review period including research reports, training resources and news articles, with historic changes and shifts in focus as a response to external factors. The challenge for evaluation is considering how these activities weave together and contribute to the desired outcomes.
Over the period covered by this review, SFC changed its approach to monitoring and evaluation, including changes to the annual reporting returns, shifting from a focus on reporting activities delivered (2021/22 and 2022/23) to increased attention on outcomes and impact (2023/24). Good evaluation requires clarity on the core purpose of the investment and establishing clearly defined outcomes from the start. It is also important that these are proportionate to the role of the agency and recognise the potential interdependency of impact.
The key recommendations acknowledge opportunities for SFC to enhance its own approaches in tandem with CDN. This include SFC and CDN working together to support the development and implementation of monitoring and evaluation processes which are proportionate to CDN’s activities; something we will explore together further in the future.
We will continue to develop and provide leadership and expertise to support effective evaluation and impact measurement across SFC. Supporting recognition of the threads of work and their interdependency in the creation of the tapestry which are our shared prioritises for the sector.
Claire Mills, Evaluation and Impact Officer, Scottish Funding Council, 10 July 2025
