Scottish Funding Councils performance indicators give positive picture.

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Scotlands colleges continue to demonstrate high level performances the details of which are published in the Scottish Funding Councils latest performance indicators which have just been released.

The 2005-06 Student and staff performance indicators for Scotlands further education colleges showed Scotlands colleges exceeded their targets by two per cent.

Almost all students (95 per cent) progressed beyond the first quarter of their course and 86 per cent completed the entire programme. Of those completing around 80 per cent of students gained their award or went on to the next year of study.

And the Scottish Employers Skills Survey showed that 75 per cent of employers who recruited FE graduates reported they were well prepared for work.

Other PIs show that colleges delivered 2.216 million weighted student units of measurement (WSUMs) – the hours of student learning multiplied by subject weightings – two per cent above the 2005-06 target. 26 per cent of students came from the most deprived postcode areas in which 20 per cent of the population lives. 34 per cent of activity went to students aged 25 and over, continuing colleges response to the lifelong learning agenda and in the survey of student experience carried out in 2005, 92 per cent of students were satisfied with the quality of learning.

Roger McClure, Chief Executive of SFC, said that the PIs not only showed how the sector is performing but also identified opportunities for improvement.

“The consistency of colleges performance is particularly pleasing,” he commented, “they continue to provide high quality educational opportunities for people right across the board. I am sure our colleagues in the sector will use these PIs wisely and work with each other to continue to grow and further improve FE in Scotland.”

This is the fifth year of the publication of college PIs, which are aimed at informing stakeholders about the performance of the sector. They also help colleges benchmark their performance against others of similar size, offering similar provision, therefore contributing the quality improvement.

Chris Mitchell