A college leader has said that local autonomy will help colleges deliver on their national goals, but the sector needs fundamental changes before it becomes too depleted to evolve.

Scotland’s colleges have been through a lot in the past decade, and the most recent 12 months has been the icing on a particularly chaotic cake. A long-running industrial dispute was finally settled in August, but it was preceded by more than a year of bitter negotiations between union and college leaders, with both sides calling for the government to intervene.

It did, eventually – although it was after months of ministers insisting the government had no part to play, and questions still remain about the financial ramifications of that intervention – but the wounds run deep.

Both sides implemented what each described as “last resort” style tactics, including a marking boycott by lecturing staff that put student progression at risk and the withholding of pay by employers for staff who took part. Trust is scarce, and the injuries inflicted are still healing.

As if fractured industrial relations are not enough of a challenge, the sector is also facing another year of financial difficulty along with something of a crisis of identity. Government leaders regularly point to colleges as the drivers of Scotland’s future economy. Still, leading voices in the sector have said that they are missing what they need to live up to that ideal: a clear steer from the Scottish Government and the freedom to capitalise on personal and professional relationships locally.

One of those voices is Edinburgh College Chief Executive and Principal Audrey Cumberford FRSE MBE, who recently spoke to The Herald about the sector's health, how to move on from the recent industrial battle, and what it will take to build—not just survive—in the future.

All of that begins with finding a funding model that is fit for purpose, she said.

“The current funding model and the amount of money going into the sector is not sustainable for the status quo, and the status quo is not an option.”

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Creating a system that allows for some financial stability will allow colleges to plan for the future, she said. But it could also help to undo some of the damage in industrial relations.

The national bargaining system may have streamlined negotiations, but Ms Cumberford said that it also stripped the sector of what used to be a vital resource: productive professional – and personal – relationships at the local level.

“My observation, having been a principal before national bargaining was introduced is that those local relationships were so important. But they were actually quite easy because you knew each other.

“You could develop trust, you could develop respect. There was a connection there because it was local, whereas nationally the rhetoric is ‘management and us.’

“You become hard to touch, as if we’re not real people.”

She said creating that environment at a national level has proven to be a problem without a solution so far.

“I don’t know the answer, actually. How do you try and replicate that nationally, to get that level of trust, respect and professionalism where you will disagree – absolutely – but you will probably have more areas that you agree than disagree.

“Locally, I would walk out of my office and say ‘Let’s have a wee chat, there’s a problem rumbling away here that we need to sort out.’

“That does work well locally, but it’s hard to scale up with a national platform.”

Edinburgh College and Ms Cumberford have both seen the effects of fractured industrial relations, with the campus hit by multiple strike actions and Ms Cumberford the subject of a no-confidence motion in 2023. 

Maximising those local relationships is about more than building back trust, however. Ms Cumberford said that it is also about getting the most out of business, school and community partnerships so that colleges are meeting actual local needs, not just hitting objectives that look good in a policy briefing.

She said colleges need the freedom to plan strategically for that, which can only come with a sense of financial stability. How can they do that when the government budget is already tight and seems to get tighter every year?

Ms Cumberford circled back to a suggestion that has become a regular ask of colleges, universities, and other public bodies: getting multi-year funding from the government.

The current system creates an annual cycle of short-term decision-making, which Ms Cumberford said makes strategic planning almost impossible.

“From a staff perspective, from a union perspective, from a management perspective, it’s an annual cycle of cuts. If staff costs are 75 per cent of our base, therefore we have to reduce our staff, therefore if staff leave, we have to say don’t replace no matter whether we need staff in that area or not.

“That’s not strategic, it’s just not strategic. It has to be done in a strategic way, which is at least a three-year plan that says, right, here’s where we are going.”

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A clear destination and the ability to create a roadmap to it may be the only way to create any lasting reform in the sector, she said. Lasting reform requires buy-in from every level, but forward planning becomes more difficult when staff are regularly worried about their jobs.

“Let’s say, hypothetically, that we all agree on that North Star – what we want the college sector to be doing or delivering in terms of impact in the next three, five, ten years.

“There will need to be a transition which, for me, would be supported and that would include workforce. If we all agree there’s a bright future, but we are going to have to change, then you plan that transition from a workforce perspective rather than lurch from year to year, which we do at the moment, having voluntary severance schemes and hoping enough people come forward or, in some cases, going down compulsory redundancy.

“Instead, what I could be saying to my staff is: here’s where we are at the moment, here’s the kind of workforce that we need – the shape, the size, the skills that we’re going to need to be fit for the future.

“We’ve got three years to get there. Let’s plan how we do that together.”

For now, that North Star sits behind a cloud. But The Herald’s recent series on the State of Scotland’s College highlighted the transformative work happening on campuses every day, and a recent Edinburgh College report showed the impact one college can have locally.

It's estimated that Scotland’s college graduate cohorts between 2017 and 2022 will add £52bn to the nation’s economy. In the Edinburgh, East and Midlothian region where Edinburgh College has campuses, there is expected to be a demand for 136,400 more workers by 2033.

The college reports providing education and training for 27,000 people per year, and has delivered workforce training and upskilling to more than 10,000 employees in the region.

That’s only a glimpse at the impact of one college, and the story will be much the same on other campuses. Ms Cumberford said this drives home the demand that colleges be allowed room to grow.

“I think we need both that longer-term vision and stability of what we need from our college sector. And then our adaptiveness and responsiveness and agility is essential, because that’s how the world is operating.

“There is a lot of untapped potential. I know we should be doing more, but we can’t, because the funding model doesn’t support it.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said the government and the Scottish Funding Council are "working closely with the college sector to enable greater flexibility in resources.”

“The Scottish Government has protected investment in the college sector as far as possible, with more than £750 million invested this year to support their delivery of high-quality education and training, despite the 2024-25 budget being the most challenging to be delivered under devolution."