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New further education college
11/06/2004
A new further education college will be established
inGlasgowlater this year.
More than 14,000 students are expected to benefit
from the creation ofGlasgowMetropolitanCollege, when two ofGlasgow's city centre colleges - Building & Printing and
Food Technology - will merge.
Deputy First Minister Jim Wallace today made the
announcement while speaking at the annual conference of
the Association of Scottish Colleges in Peebles.
Mr Wallace said:
"The proposal to merge has come from the two colleges
themselves. By joining together into a new, single
institution the colleges aim to boost the quality of
educational provision to students.
The merger will also make possible longer
term efficiency savings.
"Both colleges are distinguished in their field
and Ministers have been impressed by their vision for
the future delivery of vocational education. In
approving this merger, which will come into effect from
1 August this year, we have taken account of the
positive support given by the Scottish Further
Education Funding Council which was shared by the vast
majority of respondents in our recent
consultation.
"The configuration of the further education sector
has remained largely unchanged since colleges were
transferred from local authority control in 1993.
This will be the first new college created since the
transfer. It is right that all of our colleges continue to
examine their position in the sector.
It is not for Ministers to tell colleges
whether they should merge.
But we expect them to be aware of the 'big
picture'.
"Further education exists to give people the
employment skills they need in an increasingly high
technology and competitive economy. If FE can be
delivered to a higher quality through combining existing
colleges, then we will support moves to achieve that."
The Deputy First Minister also announced in his
speech that a Working Group will be set up to examine the
issues surrounding the qualifications of FE lecturers to
teach school pupils.
The Boards of Management of Glasgow College of
Building & Printing (GCBP) and Glasgow College of Food
Technology (GCFT) made a request to Ministers in December
2003 that they merge the colleges into a single, new
institution called 'GlasgowMetropolitanCollege'.
Discussions originally also involved Central
College of Commerce, who subsequently dropped out of
the initiative.
In terms of the
Further and Higher Education (
Scotland
) Act 1992, it is only Ministers who have the power to
open, close or merge colleges of further
education. Before exercising these powers, the Act
requires Ministers to consult with the education authority
and with anyone else who may be affected.
The Scottish Further Education Funding
Council will also
advise Ministers on the proposal.
The decision of Ministers is consistent with advice
provided by the
Scottish Further
Education Funding Council. A recent
consultation exercise was also strongly in favour of the
proposal.
The Association of Scottish Colleges is the
representative body for 45 ofScotland's 46 colleges of further education.
The Working Group will be chaired by David
Raffe, Professor of Sociology of Education and
Director of Research in the
SchoolofEducationat theUniversityofEdinburgh. The Association of Scottish Colleges and
the General Teaching Council for
Scotlandwill be among those invited to join the Working
Group. The Working Group will report back to
Scottish Ministers by the end of January 2005.