Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Dundee College concern about Scottish further education shake up

Post Thumbnail

Dundee College is worried that a move towards a regional model for further education could lead to extra bureaucracy.

Along with Angus College, it forms the Tayside grouping proposed by the Scottish Government as part of efforts by ministers to streamline the sector. More collaboration between colleges, possibly including the creation of some sort of federal management structure or even full mergers, is on the way.

Potential tie-ups in other parts of the country, particularly in the Glasgow and Edinburgh areas, could see the number of colleges in Scotland fall by more than a third from its present total of 41.

In its consultation response to a government paper on post-16 education, Dundee College has said it is ”very open” to reform, but this must be implemented in a way which benefits learners and does not create additional layers of bureaucracy.

”Advantages must not be assumed but must be evidence-based and any regional commissioning model must be modelled in order to test the impact and avoid unintended consequences.

”It would be very messy to have a wide range of differing regional models.

”The simple approach of a single regional college with local access points is likely to provide the best model in many cases, with funding managed and accountability delivered through its own board,” the college said.

Potential pros included better planning, better use of limited resources and the pooling of expertise, facilities and resources. The cons included more complex management structures in the case of federations, and the costs of operating multiple campuses.

Dundee College is also concerned about the possible effects of bringing together institutions with different cultures and the ”distraction from day-to-day operations” that could result from regionalisation.

The Dundee Partnership, which links the city council together with partner agencies, said there is an argument in favour of better regional planning for further education but there could also be ”significant costs and wastage” associated with the transition to any new model.

”From a local authority perspective, we would hope that a needs-based commissioning model would recognise the disparity between different regions in Scotland.

”In the case of a city like Dundee, with a disproportionate share of Scotland’s poor, we would hope that the funding model would recognise different levels of need and provide appropriate levels of resource to meet these needs,” it said.