Dr Bill HarveyDeputy Director for Learning

and TeachingEmail: bharvey@sfc.ac.uk

Developing skills for Scotland

through regeneration

CILIPS Conference 2008

Good advice for speakers…..

“You have a captive audience…”

“…so please don’t speak for too long…”

“…and be cheerful.”

However….

FE and HE Context

1992 SHEFC - Higher Education 1999 SFEFC - Further Education 2005 single merged Council - SFC SFC budget 2008-09 £1.6 Billion Scotland’s biggest quango 19 HE institutions in Scotland, 43

colleges

SFC Corporate Plan - Vision

A more dynamic, entrepreneurial and internationally competitive Scotland, whose people are amongst the most skilled and educated of any of our competitors, and whose colleges and universities are world-class contributors to economic, social and cultural development.

Educational Context

Devolution Lifelong learning Smart successful Scotland 50+% participation rate in HE FE delivers ~30% of HE (HNC/D) Scottish credit & qualifications

framework Small country, large neighbour

Skills for Scotland (2007)

“Sustainable economic growth”

“Skills development contributes to economic development from which we believe other benefits flow such as social justice, stronger communities and more engaged citizens.”

Skills strategy - context

Not Leitch No global shortage of HE graduates % with HE qualns > % with school

qualns SSCs will not approve qualifications Key issues - skills utilisation and

productivity

Productivity Organisational culture Individual autonomy/decision-

making Management and HR practices Capital investment Risk and enterprise Workforce development “Our firms should be ambitious

and demanding users of skills”

FE/HE role in skills strategy

Relevant, up to date programmes Core and transferable skills Respond to labour market needs Articulation, recognition of prior

learning, credit rating on SCQF, CPD

Knowledge transfer to business

SFC activities on skills

Institutional employability strategies Knowledge transfer & employer

engagement Enterprise Industry sector analysis Supply and demand studies Learner choice and learner engagement ‘On Track’ longitudinal surveys 2004 &

2007

Challenges for the tertiary sector

Resources, efficiency, effectiveness Systems and content integration Widening access FE-HE transition Continuous quality improvement A culture of reflective practice Flexible delivery to lifelong learners

A learner-centred approach?

What do learners want? Diversity of needs IT and knowledge literacy Just in time, just for me Remote, rural, overseas students Employability skills Creating autonomous learners

Challenges for Libraries

What is a library? Where is a library? When is a library? What do libraries contain? Embedding in institutional L&T

strategy Diversity of user needs

What will the future be like?“I think there is a world market for about five computers”

Thomas J Watson, Chairman of IBM, 1943

“No matter what happens, the US Navy is not going to be caught napping”

Frank Knox, Secretary of the US Navy, Dec 4 1941

“They couldn’t hit an elephant at this dist….” Last words of Gen. John B Sedgwick, 1864 (US

Civil War)

Future trends

Accountability and responsiveness

Managerialism and academic culture

Demographics and new markets Access and inclusion Differentiation within the sector Globalisation

Questions…..