Informed Scotland October 2020 – College & university futures
The impact of the pandemic continues to dominate learning & skills, including increasing the pace and extent of change being considered by organisations across the landscape.
In October the focus was on the future for further and higher education.
Phase one of the Scottish Funding Council’s three-phase review of colleges and universities, and the UK-wide final report of the Independent Commission into the College of the Future were both published. (A Scotland-specific report from the Commission is due by the end of the year.) The Higher Education Policy Institute published a report considering the likely Demand for Higher Education to 2035. And separate reports by partners led by College Development Network and Jisc encourage colleges and universities respectively to take a longer-term strategic look at the use of digital technology.
In other developments, look out for:
- Scottish Government’s Additional support for learning: Action plan
- The annual evaluation of the Attainment Scotland Fund in schools, and YouthLink Scotland’s evaluation of youth work’s contribution to closing the poverty-related attainment gap
- The latest PISA results on the Global competence of Scotland’s pupils, and a new GlobeScotters campaign launched by British Council Scotland and Young Scot
- A number of reports on addressing skills shortages, including by the National Centre for Universities & Business and the CBI; meanwhile, disappointingly, the latest Employer Skills Survey does not involve employers in Scotland for the first time since its inception in 2011.
Thanks to one of our subscribers for this great feedback: ‘With so much information and news circulating now more than ever, I am always grateful when I receive this publication….clear and concise’ – Natalie Phillips, Clyde Gateway
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