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£28.1 million for colleges
04/06/2009
Thousands of extra college places are to be created in Scotland during the next two years, thanks to additional funding for Scotland's colleges announced today by the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning.
In total, £28.1 million is to be allocated to Scotland's Colleges to help them better respond to the needs of individuals and businesses during the economic downturn. The funding - consequentials from the 2009 UK Budget - includes £16.1 million to enable colleges to provide thousands of additional places in the next two years, helping them address the demand caused by the economic downturn, particularly from school leavers.
It also includes an extra £12 million in capital to improve college buildings and facilities.
Ms Hyslop said:
"Scotland's colleges have a key role in helping people and businesses deal with the impact of the economic downturn and ensuring individuals have the skills and training they need to contribute to this country's future economic success when the recovery comes.
"We and the Scottish Funding Council have recognised that key role. The Funding Council has already announced an above-inflation allocation to colleges for the next financial year, including a substantial increase in college funding for PACE - Partnership for Action on Continuing Employment, to enable PACE teams to work with colleges to support people facing redundancy.
"Building on that and in-light of the increase in demand for college courses both from young people choosing to go on to further study and the number of older learners who are choosing to go to college to improve their future job prospects, I can today announce a further increase in college funding of £16.1 million over the next two years. That equates to more than 3,100 extra full-time places, although in reality the numbers will be significantly higher given that most college courses are part-time.
"We are also providing an additional £12 million to help colleges undertake improvements to their existing estate, on top of the £13 million accelerated capital funding we announced earlier in this year for colleges and universities. This new funding will ensure that our college campuses continue to provide a high quality learning environment for staff and students alike."
Linda McTavish, Convenor of Scotland's Colleges Principal's Convention, said:
"The announcement today is simply great news for the sector. Colleges across Scotland have seen big increases in applications for places this year, and without this additional investment, they would have struggled to cater to the increased demand. The real winners from this extra funding are the thousands of Scottish students who will now be able to access high quality education and training at their local college.
Chris Travis, Chief Executive of policy and development agency Scotland's Colleges, said:
"The Scottish Government's continued commitment to Scottish education is clearly demonstrated by this hugely important announcement today. Scotland's colleges are often best placed to respond to the effects of economic downturn by offering retraining and reskilling opportunities to those finding themselves out of work. Equally important is the big rise in demand for college places from school leavers. The Scottish Government has set out the high standards it expects of colleges and we are determined to respond in a manner which yields maximum benefit to learners across Scotland."
The funding announced today follows a range of other recent activity by the Scottish Government to help Scotland's colleges support people and businesses during the economic downturn. The funding will be distributed by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) whose job it will be to decide which colleges will benefit.
Recent activity to help colleges includes:
- £5 million, being allocated by the SFC to enable colleges to work with PACE - Partnership Action for Continuing Employment - to offer retraining for those who have been made redundant this year, on top of £2m provided from January to April 2009
- An above-inflation increase by the SFC in the overall funding for colleges to £572 million in the next academic year, including a 9.3 per cent increase for student bursaries and other student support such as for childcare, helping ease some of the financial barriers to their participation in further education
- The SFC giving a strong direction to colleges on how their funds should be used during the downturn, to focus on providing training which will boost people's job prospects or help those who have been made redundant, rather than attaching priority to leisure or recreational courses. The SFC has also made clear the priority it attaches to finding places for the rising number of recent school-leavers choosing to go to college to further their careers and for whom jobs may be harder to find in a more competitive jobs market
- As part of the Scottish Government's economic recovery programme, allocating £20.5 million for accelerated capital spending in the college and university estate in (£7.5 million in 2008-09 and £13 million in 2009-10). This is designed to support the local and national economy in Scotland, preserve and create jobs in key sectors such as construction and engineering and create improve campuses where people can get the skills and training they need to get into work and stay in work