The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has today announced to colleges across Scotland that it has been able to meet, in full, all colleges’ requests for additional student support funding for 2018-19.
The In-Year Redistribution of Student Support Funds is an annual exercise carried out by SFC to ensure that student support funds (bursaries, childcare, Care Experienced bursaries and discretionary funds for students up to and including NC level) are targeted to those students who need them.
This year also sees SFC delivering for the first time the Scottish Government’s commitment to pay a higher bursary to Care Experienced students on Further Education courses.
Commenting on the announcement, SFC Chief Executive Karen Watt said:
“Ensuring that our students have the right support to allow them to undertake their studies is a priority for the Scottish Funding Council. We are delighted that we have been able to meet, in full, all requests for additional student support funding for the 2018-19 academic year.”
Care Day is a national opportunity to celebrate the lives and voices of care experienced people. The first Care Day took place in 2015 to commemorate the anniversary of the Scottish Parliament passing the Children and Young People Bill. Care Day is now a regular event and takes place on the third Friday in February.
This year SFC is marking the occasion with a fundraising coffee morning. Proceeds will go towards the Who Cares? Scotland annual Summer Camp and to supporting Who Cares? Scotland’s participation in this year’s Kiltwalk.
SFC’s Vonnie Sandlan also wrote a blog ahead of Care Day about why it’s important care experienced people are supported effectively at college and university.
SFC works closely with the college and university sectors, agencies, and organisations such as Who Cares? Scotland and CELCIS, and with these partners has set a National Ambition that there is no difference in the outcomes of care experienced learners compared to their peers by 2021-22.
For more information on Care Day and how you can support it, visit Who Cares? Scotland’s Care Day 2019 campaign page.
The Scottish Funding Council (SFC), Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise have each committed £50,000 to support the UK’s largest research, industry and government partnership in carbon capture, use and storage.
Established with SFC funding in 2005, Scottish Carbon Capture & Storage (SCCS) is a research and knowledge exchange partnership between Heriot-Watt University, the University of Aberdeen, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Strathclyde, and the British Geological Survey. SCCS also works to develop research and teaching, with engagement at St Andrews, Glasgow, Robert Gordon and other universities across Scotland.
Carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) is a group of technologies that capture carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions at source to prevent them being vented to the atmosphere and escalating climate change. CCUS can decarbonise the power, industry, heat and transport sectors, which account for 83% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. SCCS brings together world-leading CCUS expertise and facilities, and builds partnerships with industry and government to support the development of CCUS in the UK and internationally.
SCCS assisted in bringing Scottish experts to the EU funded ACT Acorn Project. Led by energy consultants Pale Blue DotEnergy, the Acorn project is working to develop the UK’s first operational carbon capture and storage (CCS) project at the St Fergus Gas Terminal in Aberdeenshire. The project has received funding from the Scottish Government, UK Government, and the European Union.
The project will see existing terminal infrastructure re-purposed to capture around 200,000 tonnes of CO2 per year initially, which will then be transported for storage in depleted North Sea gas fields, using re-conditioned existing pipelines.
Scientists from Heriot-Watt University, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Aberdeen worked with other experts in the UK, the Netherlands and Norway to model CO2 storage characteristics, while Robert Gordon University researched public perception around the project and the role of CCUS. SCCS has also advocated for the role of CCUS as a recognised technology in the decarbonisation of Scotland’s energy system within the Scottish Government’s work to establish a Just Transition Commission.
Professor Stuart Haszeldine, SCCS Director, said:
“We are thrilled to receive this funding, enabling us to continue our crucial work. Our goal is to realise the potential of carbon capture and storage in decarbonising the UK’s high-emitting sectors rapidly, at least cost, and enabling a just transition for skilled professionals and workers in the oil and gas sector as Scotland moves towards a zero carbon economy.”
Dr Stuart Fancey, SFC Director of Research and Innovation, said:
“Scotland is home to the knowledge that the world needs to make carbon capture and storage an everyday reality, reducing carbon emissions and mitigating climate change. SCCS brings expertise from our universities and their partners to bear on the challenges of this new technology, a technology that can work with existing oil and gas infrastructure and offer new economic opportunities for Scotland. SFC is very pleased to join Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Government in funding the continued world-leading research into carbon capture and storage by the SCCS partnership.”
Paul Wheelhouse, Minister for Energy, Connectivity and the Islands, said
“The Scottish Government has been consistent in our strong commitment to the development and implementation of CCUS technologies, as indicated by our providing funding to Pale Blue Dot Energy’s Acorn CCS Project at St Fergus, and to Scottish Carbon Capture and Storage. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the International Energy Agency have both indicated that developing CCS technology will be critical to keeping global temperature increases to 2 degrees Celsius or less. I therefore welcome the opportunity to continue this commitment via the joint funding announced today. We will continue to promote Scottish CCS and CCUS opportunities and capitalise on future funding to ensure Scotland remains at the forefront of the technology’s development.
“We believe Scotland is in a unique position to undertake this technology on an industrial scale and that the opportunity to repurpose key existing pipeline infrastructure assets already in place provides the most cost-effective pathway to the deployment of CCUS. Our waters in the North Sea also provides access to vast carbon storage resources in depleted oil and gas reservoirs and we believe that coupled with our existing oil and gas capabilities, ready supply chain, and strategically important industrial clusters, Scotland is potentially the best-placed country in Europe to realise CCUS on a commercial scale.”
Andy McDonald, Director for Energy and Low Carbon Technologies at Scottish Enterprise, said:
“We’re pleased to support this initiative, which will bring the brightest minds from academia together with industry to help reduce carbon emissions and their effects on climate change. Low-carbon businesses are the future of our economy and there are many opportunities for companies looking to develop innovative technologies to aid this transition.”
CCUS is one of six priorities in the Scottish Government’s Energy Strategy and is also a key policy of the UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy’s Clean Growth Strategy. The Clean Growth Strategy states that it is a reaffirmation of the UK Government’s commitment to deploying CCUS at scale in the UK in the 2030s, subject to cost reduction.
The UK CCS Storage Appraisal has found the UK’s offshore geological storage potential at over 78 gigatonnes of CO2 (the equivalent of over 200 years of the UK’s 2017 CO2 emissions). One tonne of CO2 gas fills roughly the same space as a small house.
Globally, power and industry account for about 50% of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. While Scotland’s electricity system is expected to be largely decarbonised by the 2030s, the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Plan recognises CCS “as the only viable technology capable of mitigating industrial scale CO2 emissions in some of the world’s most carbon intensive industrial processes”.
Recently the Scottish Government published the first Annual Report on its five year STEM strategy for education and training in Scotland.
The Scottish Funding Council is proud to support Scotland’s colleges in playing a central role in the delivery of this strategy, and the STEM hub network of colleges, universities and employers working with primary and secondary schools on more joint learning opportunities – an initiative targeting all four of the strategy’s key challenges for STEM education and training in Scotland.
The following case studies highlight examples of this work, specifically around the work of the Energy Skills Partnership (ESP), a collaboration of Scotland’s regional colleges. ESP’s aim is to increase the capacity and capability to identify that the right skills are being delivered at the right time to meet industry’s demand. Through this consortium approach, ESP aims to prevent duplication of effort and investment for the energy, engineering and construction sectors.
Dumfries & Galloway First in Scotland with FIRST Lego League Junior
More than 50 primary pupils from across Dumfries & Galloway completed the IET’s First Lego League Jr challenge and attended an Expo at Dumfries & Galloway College.
This is the first time the challenge has taken place in Scotland. The children, were tasked with creating models based on a real life problem.
Each of the schools brought their finished work to Dumfries & Galloway College to showcase their models before enjoying a tour of the college’s engineering department.
The event was organised by ESP and the Raising Aspirations in Science Education (RAiSE) programme, alongside the Dumfries and Galloway College and participating schools.
FIRST Lego League Junior is a non-competitive challenge designed to introduce STEM concepts to children ages 6 to 10 while exciting them through a brand they know and love − LEGO. Teams of up to 6 members explore a real-world scientific problem such as food safety, recycling and energy. They create a Show Me poster that introduces their team and describes their learning journey. They construct a motorized model of what they learned using LEGO elements and LEGO WeDo 2.0 kits. In the process, teams not only learn about science and technology, but also build their teamwork and communication skills. The challenge places a strong emphasis on the FIRST Core Values, which include respect, sharing, and critical thinking.
RAiSE Teacher in Dumfries & Galloway Carol Moyes said:
“Inspiring young people to enjoy STEM education is vitally important in engaging a lifelong affinity for the subjects. The Lego challenge may seem like fun play but the lessons run far deeper in terms of project management, developing an eye for detail and critical enquiry.”
Alice Cochrane, Head Teacher at Caerlaverock Primary, added:
“This was a fantastic project – we all learned a lot and enjoyed the process.”
Rachel Tulloch, Project Support Manager Engineering at ESP, said:
“ESP works on behalf of Scotland’s colleges to promote energy, engineering and construction sectors and promoting working with member colleges and key partners across Scotland to promote the STEM agenda. One of our aims is to work with partners to promote these STEM sectors as careers of choice and develop seamless pathways through schools to college to university. At ESP we feel First Lego League and First Lego League Jr provide an excellent opportunity for children to develop the skills needed for these jobs of the future and to develop a flexible, project-based approach to learning.”
Big Bang Scotland Fair 2018
Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) was the focus of the Big Bang Scotland Fair held at Perth College UHI on 12 June 2018.
Hosted as an opportunity to inspire pupils from schools across Scotland to consider a career in STEM related roles, the Big Bang Fair brings STEM subjects to life with engaging interactive activities related to current jobs such as virtual welding, thermal imaging cameras and virtual reality working at heights training.
Attended by over 1300 school pupils from schools across Scotland it provided the opportunity for those attending to participate in interactive activities, meet Careers Champions, attend inspirational talks and to be inspired through having fun.
Run in partnership with EngineeringUK’s Tomorrow’s Engineers initiative, the Big Band Fair also brought together over 60 exhibitors from industry and colleges along with 13 inspirational speakers from industry partners.
Additionally, the event hosted Tomorrow’s Engineers Lego Robotics Challenge Scottish final and the Bloodhound Scotland Rocket Car Challenge final.
Jim Brown, Director of ESP, said:
“The Big Bang Scotland Fair builds on the regional events and truly inspires school pupils to consider STEM choices at school and STEM careers. Linking schools with industry is key to securing the future workforce and this is just one of our suite of interventions that support Scottish Government’s STEM Strategy.”
Margaret Cook Perth College UHI, Principal said:
“I was delighted to welcome the Big Bang Scotland to Perth College UHI. This is an extremely important agenda and it is great to see so many school pupils engaged in such a range of innovative activities which will inspire them to consider STEM choices going forward.”
Figures released today by UK university admissions service, UCAS, show early indications of a further reduction in the gap between students from the most and least deprived areas of Scotland.
Applications from 18 year olds living in Scotland’s most deprived communities are up by 0.8% while applications from school leavers in the most affluent communities remain stable. This follows figures in the recent UCAS end-of-cycle reports for 2018-19 that showed acceptances of a place at university from students living in deprived parts of Scotland had increased steadily over a three year period.
Karen Watt, Chief Executive of the Scottish Funding Council, said: “Today’s figures on university applications for next year show that the gap between the most and the least deprived areas of Scotland continues to narrow. We already know that actual acceptances for the current academic year confirm the same trend.
“Although there is more to be done, this is a positive sign that, working with universities, we are changing things for the better.”
“The Scottish Funding Council agrees annual outcomes with each university to accelerate progress towards fair and equal access to university.”
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Photo Credit: University of the West of Scotland
China feels the heat of Scottish technology
Creating an international voice for Scotland
As Edinburgh hosts its inaugural Chinese New Year festival this February, with a series of free and paid events and activities, it’s also worth noting Scotland’s strong research links with China.
The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) has led efforts to establish science partnerships between Scottish and Chinese science academies for a number of years, and there are many examples of Scottish universities’ research being commercialised in China, including Sunamp Ltd.
More recently, the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) has supported over 20 research partnerships in China involving 10 Scottish universities. The GCRF is a £1.5 billion UK fund, administered in Scotland by SFC, to support cutting-edge research that addresses the challenges faced by developing countries.
One of the research projects awarded funding in 2017-18 was the development of a prototype for diagnosing and managing respiratory disease (conditions such as asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)), which are at epidemic proportions in China due to poor air quality in major population centres.
Working with partners in China, Professor Des Gibson from the University of the West of Scotland (UWS) used the funding to develop a prototype low-cost capnometer (a monitoring device that measures and numerically displays the concentration of carbon dioxide in exhaled air), demonstrating required performance and testing as a precursor to clinical trialling.
A person’s respiration rate (the number of breaths taken per minute) and the amount of carbon dioxide in the air they exhale are known to be key ‘bio-markers’ in the evaluation of patients’ healthcare trends.
The project has resulted in a signed memorandum of understanding and the teams in Scotland and China are now seeking future funding to develop low cost portable point of care medical devices to help with the diagnosis and management of chronic respiratory conditions.
More broadly, China is also a focus area for the Connected Scotland partnership, and the Saltire Scholarships, a programme offered by the Scottish Government in collaboration with Scottish universities in the areas of science, technology, creative industries, healthcare and medical sciences, and renewable and clean energy. China is also considered a ‘priority country’ for the Scottish Government’s International Relations and International Trade strategies.
Student carers are part of every college and university in Scotland. However, unlike their peers, they have additional challenges due to their caring responsibilities, which can complicate or derail the successful completion of their studies. It’s estimated there are 788,000 people in Scotland voluntarily caring for a relative, friend or neighbour. This figure includes 44,000 people under the age of 18.
Many live on low incomes and 42% juggle study, work, and caring. Carers Trust Scotland (CTS) research reveals 50% of the days young adult carers spend at college or university are affected by their caring role, including arriving late, leaving early, or missing an entire day of study or classes. Students with unpaid caring responsibilities are four times more likely to drop out of college or university than their peers who are not carers.
To help address this issue, the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) allocated £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.
This CTS-led initiative has been designed to help all Scottish universities and colleges to identify, evaluate, and improve their support to young and student carers and to ultimately participate in a Scotland-wide quality recognition award scheme.
The programme has already proven popular with Aberdeen, Glasgow Caledonian, University of Highlands and Islands Inverness campus, and Strathclyde universities already receiving a ‘Going Higher for Student Carers: Recognition Award’, and Abertay, Queen Margaret and St Andrews working towards submitting evidence to CTS of changes they’ve made.
For young adult carers such as Keith Burns, who is studying at Strathclyde University, having dedicated support is “vital”.
“It makes us feel more welcome in our institutions as we feel that staff understand us, which means that we can then focus on realising our fullest potential as students.”
Louise Morgan, CTS Director for Scotland and Northern Ireland said: “We’re delighted the programme has secured SFC funding as we expand to work with all Scottish colleges and universities. The programme and training resources will allow colleges and universities to have a better understanding of carers and the barriers they may face whilst studying, and make real change to improve the lives of current and future student carers in Scotland.”
“Raising awareness of carers and all that they do is a good step forward towards helping carers to receive the support they need to have a life outside of caring.”
SFC Chief Executive Karen Watt said: “It is fantastic to see so many institutions already stepping up to improve the experience of student carers on their campuses. We’re very proud to be funding this work to help widen access to further and higher education, in support of the Carers (Scotland) Act, and the Scottish Government’s priority to improve the health and wellbeing of carers in Scotland.”
Today is Young Carers Awareness Day 2019 – CTS’ annual initiative to raise awareness of young people who look after family members with illness, disabilities or substance misuse issues. Find out how you can support young carers.
Read more: Jade Lochhead describes what it’s like to be a student carer and how it affected her studies.
Interface has released the shortlist for the fourth Scottish Knowledge Exchange Awards, highlighting the best examples of businesses and universities or research institutions working together to bring significant benefits to the economy, society and higher education.
Award categories include Innovation of the Year, Rising Star of the Year, and Multiparty collaboration for groups and consortia involving three or more parties working together on an innovative research project and include a research partner from Scottish academia and at least one business.
The four judging panels were made up of representatives from; Scottish Funding Council, Entrepreneurial Scotland, College Development Network, Zero Waste Scotland, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Scottish Government, Knowledge Transfer Network and the Interface Strategic Board.
SFC Senior Policy and Analysis Officer Gary Bannon who sat on one of judging panels said:
“This year’s shortlist, which represents eight Scottish universities and more than 50 businesses, really highlights the scale of innovative thinking and entrepreneurship across Scotland’s business and research sectors. It’s great to see such a wide variety of effective partnerships making a difference across Scotland, as well as those with a global impact.”
Dr Siobhán Jordan, Director of Interface, said:
“Business and academic partnerships can spark truly cutting-edge collaborative projects leading to significant innovation which can have a major impact on the economy and society. We are delighted to host these annual awards, which go from strength to strength, and allow us to showcase the most exciting and game changing research and development which is happening in Scotland today.”
Funded by the SFC, Scottish Enterprise, and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Interface offers a free and impartial brokerage service, which helps companies and organisations solve their business challenges by connecting them with world-leading Scottish research expertise.
The winners will be announced at the Scottish Knowledge Exchange Awards on Thursday 21 February.
See the full shortlist online.
Publications and Statistics
Scotland’s colleges have exceeded the Scottish Government’s target of 116,269 Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) by 2,415 FTEs in 2017-18 according to a new report published by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) today. The College Statistics 2017-18 also show an increase in the number of enrolments and in headcount which have increased by 3.9% and 2.9% respectively compared with the previous year.
These increases come against a backdrop of declining numbers of young people in the Scottish population as a whole. Between 2008-09 and 2017-18 the number of 18-19 year olds fell by approximately 8,000, yet the proportion of this age group choosing to study at college increased from 16.8% to 21.9% in the same period.
Colleges have also seen a rise in numbers across the older age groups, with increases of 10.2% and 7.0% in both the 31-40 year old and the 41-50 year old age groups respectively compared with the previous year. These results, which come following the introduction of the Flexible Workforce Development Fund, suggest a move to in-work learning and re-skilling or up-skilling as employers seek to address skills gaps.
Published alongside the College Statistics, SFC’s College Performance Indicators 2017-18 also indicate that inroads are being made in successful completion rates. Although there has been a slight drop (-0.3%) in success rates for those undertaking Higher Education courses in 2017-18 compared with last year, the success rate for those in Further Education has increased by 0.8%. Furthermore over the last 10 years there has been a 7.3% increase in successful completion for students enrolled on Further Education courses and a 7.4% increase for those enrolled on Higher Education courses.
Reflecting increasing trends over the past three years, the report also notes slight increases in successful completion rates for students from the 20% most deprived areas in Scotland (+0.4%) and for students with declared disabilities (+0.5%).
Commenting on the reports, SFC Chief Executive Karen Watt said:
“The results from the College Statistics and the College Performance Indicator Reports are hugely positive. They underline the strength of the college sector which is increasingly attractive to our young people while also offering excellent opportunities for those already in work to retrain or up-skill.
“It is good to see increases in successful completion rates across the sector, while recognising the need to better understand why some students leave courses early. It is also encouraging that success rates have increased for students from the 20% most deprived areas and students with declared disabilities. We look forward to working with the sector to identify how we can sustain and build on the improvements made in recent years.”
John Swinney welcomes Crichton agreement
Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC)
The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has welcomed the announcement by Public Finances Minister Kate Forbes of a £156,000 investment to address gaps in the accessibility and availability of rural (forestry, agriculture and horticulture) training across the south of Scotland.
Led by SFC and delivered by Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC), this funding will provide for two mobile learning centres, fitted out with equipment which individual schools, colleges or other businesses would not otherwise be able to access for rural skills courses. These mobile centres will be available to schools across the region to help in the delivery of Rural Skills National 4 and 5 level courses. The colleges will provide suitably qualified staff to deliver the courses as part of an agreed delivery programme.
Complementing this practical hands-on learning, funding will also be used to investigate the development of online rural training packages, building on best practice from elsewhere in the UK and overseas. This element of the programme also has the potential to align with the Hub and Spoke project announced last year, with delivery of courses through the recently commissioned South of Scotland Skills and Learning Network at Borders College (Hawick), Dumfries & Galloway College (Stranraer), the “Bridge” (Dumfries), Eyemouth High School and other schools linked to the network.
Commenting on the funding announcement, Michael Cross, Interim Director of Skills, Access and Outcome Agreements at SFC, said:
“Through active participation in the South of Scotland Economic Partnership, SFC is delighted to be playing a vital role in developing opportunities for young people in the south of Scotland, enabling them to stay in the area, while at the same time addressing urgent skills gaps which will help the local economy to flourish.
“We look forward to working with our partners at SRUC and beyond to ensure the successful delivery of this new programme which will see the provision of both practical skills delivery and online learning, complementing the investment we have already made across the south of Scotland to deliver digital learning through the further and higher education institutions and in partnership with local schools.”
A new report published today by the Scottish Science Advisory Council (SSAC) has found that Scotland’s science and research base is punching above its weight, particularly in relation to the quality of its research and its international collaborations.
Confirming Scotland’s long-held reputation for research excellence, the report, which compares the performance of Scotland’s science and research base with the other UK nations and selected EU and non-EU countries, identifies the following key highlights:
- Scotland produces more academic publications per researcher.
- Scotland’s research is cited more often than research from competitor nations.
- Investment in Business Enterprise Research and Development has doubled over the past decade.
- Scotland has an increasing and consistently higher share of publications with international partners and with higher impact than the UK average.
However, while the report highlights that there is good reason to be positive, it does also offer a cautionary note. It notes that emerging research-intensive nations such as Singapore, India and Brazil are growing their capability and capacity.
Commenting on the publication, Stuart Fancey, Director of Research and Innovation at the Scottish Funding Council, said:
“This report confirms our long-held understanding that Scotland’s researchers are among the best in the world, working collaboratively with global partners to produce world-leading research to help address the issues not only of today but also those of tomorrow. We cannot be complacent in the face of increasing competition, but that competition does bring the possibility of developing new partnerships, building on our already strong reputation for global collaboration.
“The Scottish Funding Council looks forward to continuing its support of Scotland’s research and science base, providing funding to our universities, colleges and innovation centres, to ensure that Scotland maintains its strong position as a world-leading research nation.”
Background
The report was commissioned by the SSAC and funded by the SSAC, the Scottish Funding Council, Universities Scotland, and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. These partners were joined on the project steering group by Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise.
Elsevier were commissioned to undertake a metrics-based assessment of Scotland’s science landscape 2007-2016. The full report is available on the SSAC website.
The report compares the Scottish research base to that of England, Wales, Northern Ireland (and the whole of the UK, including Scotland), selected EU countries of similar size and research base (Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden) and selected non-EU countries of similar size and research base (Israel, Norway, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland).
New figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s (HESA) show that in 2017/18 the proportion of students from the most deprived areas entering Scottish universities was the highest it’s ever been.
HESA’s Higher Education Student Statistics 2017/18 publication shows 15.6% entrants were from the 20% most deprived postcode areas (SIMD20). The result is just 0.4 percentage points off the 2021 target set following the 2016 Commission on Widening Access.
Figures also show the number of Scottish domiciled students attending Scottish Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) increased by 2.1% in 2017/18, and the number of entrants increased by 3.2%.
Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science Richard Lochhead said: “These statistics highlight the good progress being made on widening access to higher education. I’m pleased to see more Scots going to university here and a record increase in entrants from our most deprived areas.
“Combined with recent UCAS statistics, this shows demonstrable progress towards giving every young person in Scotland an equal chance of success, no matter their background or circumstance.
“It is also great to see a record number of enrolments and an increased number of qualifications achieved in 2017/18. All of this speaks to the level of excellence found across our higher education institutions.”
SFC Chief Executive Karen Watt said: “This is a great result for our young people, our future economic prosperity and the sort of society we want to build; and it’s a great result for our universities who are working with us to widen access to higher education in Scotland.
“While there is still more to do, good progress is being made to ensure children growing up in our most deprived communities have the same opportunity to go to university as anybody else.”
A new national research centre focused on what happens to oil and gas infrastructure when it’s no longer needed has been unveiled by the University of Aberdeen today.
SFC supported the development of the National Decommissioning Centre (NDC), which is the result of £38m partnership between the Oil & Gas Technology Centre and the University of Aberdeen, as part of the Aberdeen City Region Deal
Combining industry expertise with academic excellence, the NDC aims to work in partnership with companies to become the global leader in R&D focused on reducing costs, extending field and asset life, and transforming the traditional approach to decommissioning.
100 offshore platforms and 7,500km of pipeline are forecast to be decommissioned or reused over the next decade on the UK Continental Shelf. With costs estimated to reach £60bn by 2050, the NDC will help deliver the £21bn savings target set by industry regulator, The Oil & Gas Authority.
By linking industry demand and expertise with academic capability and skills in the field, the NDC aims to help create competitive advantage, not only for the oil and gas industry, but for decommissioning challenges in the wider energy sector such as offshore renewables.
Home to the most powerful industrial laser at any UK academic institution, the NDC features a hyperbaric testing vessel which can simulate ocean conditions 6,500m, an indoor freshwater immersion tank, environmental chambers for temperature testing from -40C to +180C and hangar space for the design and construction of decommissioning technology.
SFC contributed £50,000 to the project, which enabled the conclusion of the NDC’s full business plan and an additional capital investment of £1.9m from the Scottish Government’s Decommissioning Challenge Fund, as well as supporting the first cohort of the University of Aberdeen’s new MSc in Decommissioning.
The three month projects undertaken by the MSc students enabled work place learning with key stakeholders involved in the decommissioning and late life industry, including the regulators, industry partners and industry bodies. Their projects covered a range of disciplines from engineering, environmental science, to economics and law all relating to decommissioning challenges.
Dr Stuart Fancey, Director of Research and Innovation for the Scottish Funding Council said:
“SFC is very pleased to have supported the development of the NDC and to have contributed to funding the first cohort of MSc Students in Decommissioning, giving Scottish oil and gas businesses timely access to the skilled workforce they need for the decommissioning opportunity ahead.
This cutting edge facility is a fantastic asset for Scotland and provides industry with an open door to our world-leading research and development, boosting our economy through the maintenance and decommissioning of existing oil and gas infrastructure.”
Professor Vikki Boliver, Professor of Sociology at Durham University, will visit Edinburgh on 25 March to give the 2nd annual memorial lecture in honour of Professor David Raffe.
Professor Boliver’s research focuses on the social inequalities of access to higher education and she is the author of SFC’s recent report on contextualised admission to university.
Professor Boliver’s public lecture will draw on the findings of the SFC report to show that university entry requirements in Scotland could be significantly reduced for disadvantaged learners without ‘setting them up to fail’. Professor Boliver will also discuss the scope for more radical reductions in entry requirements coupled with more active support for students’ learning.
The lecture will be at held the University of Edinburgh’s Moray House School of Education. The event is free but anyone wishing to attend is required to book their place via Eventbrite.
The Scottish Funding Council is pleased to announce that Inverness College UHI and West Lothian College have been successful in their bids for the Men in Early Years Challenge Fund, launched by Minister for Children and Young People Maree Todd in October.
Currently, only 4% of the current workforce in Scotland is male – the £50,000 fund is designed to increase the number of men working in early learning and childcare (ELC), and bids were invited for evidence-based pilot projects that could be replicated across urban and rural areas.
The successful colleges will now use this funding for pilot projects in their regions focused on increasing applications from male students, and retaining those students to successfully complete Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) registered ELC qualifications.
Michael Cross, SFC’s Interim Director, Access, Skills & Outcome Agreements said, “We had seven submissions from colleges around Scotland, and we’re really grateful to all those that took the time to submit proposals.”
“The range of submissions highlighted a strong appetite from the sector to work in new ways to address the stubborn under-representation of men in childcare, diversifying the workforce by bringing a greater range of passionate, dedicated people on to ELC courses in Scotland’s colleges. We encourage the sector to continue to work with new and existing partners towards this aim.”
The Challenge Fund is part of a range of measures that will tackle gender inequality, consistent with SFC’s Gender Action Plan; and it should inform future developments in the ELC curriculum.
“Meanwhile, we encourage all colleges to continue to seek new ways of working and ensuring gender equality is embedded across their ELC training, so that practitioners are equipped to tackle – not reinforce – gender stereotypes when they enter the profession.”
On 29 January, Scotland Women in Technology and BCSWomen Scotland are coming together to host their first joint event of 2019.
The event, which will be held at the iconic Edinburgh headquarters of the Lloyds Banking Group, will feature two alumni of SFC’s data analysis summer internships. Laura Hepburn and Lily Samett will talk about their work with SFC’s Performance Measurement and Analysis Team and discuss the benefits of the internships for their own future careers and for the Scottish Funding Council.
Alongside Laura and Lily’s presentation, the event will provide opportunities for networking as well as the chance to find out more about the work of Scotland Women in Technology and BCS (British Computer Society) Women Scotland.
SFC’s Cathy Mitchell, who will introduce the presentation, said: “These two organisations are at the forefront of inspiring and supporting women in their careers in science and technology. It’s fantastic that they’re coming together to host this event and it’s great that the event will focus on SFC and its use of data. I’m really looking forward to introducing Laura and Lily’s talk and am sure it will be well received.”
The event is free and starts at 5:30pm. It can be booked via Eventbrite.
Change is in the wind when it comes to energy generation in Scotland. Wind turbines generated 98% of the country’s power in October 2018, and Scottish Power now generates all its power from wind, having recently sold off its last coal power station.
Green as the product might be, the instruments of this clean energy revolution are still subject to wear and tear. The turbines at the UK’s largest windfarm in Whitelee, Scotland measure 300ft to the tip of the blade and make 17 revolutions per minute, at a speed of 150mph. With an estimated lifecycle of 25 years, a considerable amount of upkeep goes into keeping the lights on at home.
Helping to minimise this impact is Renewable Parts Ltd. (RPL), a small-to-medium enterprise established in Lochgilphead, Argyll in 2011. Founder Ewan Anderson started the business, now the UK’s largest independent supply chain specialist, with an ethos of reducing the sector’s carbon footprint and getting new use out of parts once considered unserviceable.
Dealing with nearly 400 active suppliers and more than 4500 line items from their Glasgow inventory, RPL position themselves as a one-stop supply shop for customers dealing in everything from whole turbines to consumables like oils and circuit boards. However, Chief Executive James Barry says “there’s no added value in just selling on price”.
“Our drive is innovation and partnership – investing in people, software, analytics and refurbishment capability. We ask ourselves how we can add value to our customer’s business and we’re asking our customers to think harder about what they’re doing, to see where they can improve.”
Seeking to expand their business in the repair and remanufacture of wind turbine parts, RPL came to Interface, an SFC-funded organisation set up to connect businesses with world-leading Scottish academic expertise.
Interface was able to successfully match RPL with relevant experts at the University of Strathclyde’s Electronic and Electrical Engineering department, the Strathclyde Institute for Operations Management, and the Scottish Institute for Remanufacture – to investigate the new business models RPL wanted to pursue.
David McMillan, Senior Lecturer and Project Leader at the University of Strathclyde says the project offered the University the opportunity to apply its expertise in turbine reliability and operations management “in a new way, which really made us think about how we process and present this kind of data.”
Beyond shaping RPL’s future service offerings, McMillan says the project has led to multiple further collaborations with experts at Strathclyde.
“The local supply chain will be crucial to keep wind turbines running and we are happy to have played a part in facilitating that, in partnership with RPL and Interface.”
A major outcome from RPL’s Interface partnership, together with funding it secured through the Energy Technology Partnership, is its new manufacturing base in Lochgilphead’s old ambulance station. The Renewable Parts Refurbishment Centre was opened by Strathclyde Vice-Chancellor Sir Jim McDonald in October. RPL now refurbishes and manufacturers parts in Scotland that might have otherwise been sourced from overseas. The result is a more responsive, more agile supply chain that reduces customer cost of ownership. The component fixes provided are of high quality and fully warranted. But critically, this development is also creating much needed employment in the local economy, says Barry.
“By the end of next year we expect to have four more people working there and we’ve just started our apprenticeship scheme as well. People are very positive about it. I think it’s refreshing to see a small business expanding in a rural area, providing high-quality skilled jobs.”
Another example of the added value RPL can offer following its Interface partnership is in its remote warehousing capability. Using new software, he says the company can advise customers using data analytics it collects on turbine trends and stock and parts consumption.
“We work with a range of people like Scottish Power, E.ON and Innogy who see the importance of the insight we provide and as a result we’re seeing continued sales growth – more people want to do business with us because they can see the value we add.”
To other businesses looking at the benefits of an Interface partnership, Barry says “we can’t say enough good things. Strathclyde is a leading institution when it comes to renewables but they also have strong ties with industry, especially when it comes to applied knowledge”.
“The whole nature of research and development is that you must anticipate the occasional misfire; this is the essence of innovation and pushing boundaries. It’s all part of the learning process of pursuing a higher tech route, investing in skills and knowledge, to create long term value.”
“Innovation takes a lot of belief and resilience but I think the Scottish Government has the right policies and funding to support those businesses willing to take the step. RPLs’ recent award from Zero Waste Scotland is a huge vote of confidence in the business and our pioneering work in the wind industry. We’re hugely proud to be the first SME in the sector to receive this level of support.”
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon recently announced a new £5 million investment into the national Interface programme, to continue its work matching businesses with Scotland’s world-leading academic expertise.
“Scotland is home to some of the most highly-rated research institutions in the world and we continue to invest to ensure this leads to practical industry innovation. This further investment from the Scottish Funding Council and the enterprise agencies in Interface will help to amplify our talent and expertise by connecting national and international industry with all of Scotland’s universities, research institutes and colleges,” the First Minister said.
“This boosts productivity, profits and exports and creates jobs, and many companies that have benefited from Interface funding say their project would not have happened without its support.”
Dr Siobhán Jordan, Director of Interface, said: “Businesses don’t always know how to tap into academic expertise; this funding will ensure that Interface can continue to make valuable connections leading to transformational collaborative research and development.”
John Kemp, Interim Chief Executive of the Scottish Funding Council, said: “RPL’s story is a great example of the role Interface plays in supporting innovation in the Scottish economy, creating jobs and prosperity. I’m delighted SFC and its partners are able to make this investment and look forward to seeing the benefits it will bring to Scotland.”