Colleges as Anchors in their Space

regional stakeholders some of whom are college governors. The

Greater London Authority (GLA) also provides extensive data on

economic activity and is now itself a funding agency for adult

learning.18 This has given the GLA a platform, and an increased

interest in vocational learning. The principal also maintains

close contact with local public sector agencies such as hospitals

and four local authorities. These are the primary source of civic

authority within his region. However, Sutton and Kingston on the

one hand, and Merton and Wandsworth, on the other, have very

different demographic and cultural priorities. In engaging with

them, Peter has to maintain a strategic equilibrium across diverse

footfalls to keep his wide range of provision relevant.

The college is not a hub nor an 'anchor' in the sense of the

large, city-based colleges. South Thames is located in an outer

rim facing into the global gateway of London, but also into its

commuter belt and leafy boroughs. Mayhew-Smith has developed

this newly formed college group as a progressive institution,

to facilitate articulations between schools and university or

employment, while also skilling up adults for a dynamic economy

requiring increasingly higher-order skills. In this regional economy

dominated by small companies, there is a revolving door between

the business and academic worlds and inflows and outflows of

lecturing staff and students. In supporting progression, the college

has developed a good fit to its operating space unlike the focus of

local schools whose academic excellence is rather mis-matched

with local employment needs. Mayhew-Smith points out that the

careers service is a guidance, not a directive, system. They can but

make suggestions. So, at times, vacancies in local employment do

not match parental aspiration and, as a consequence, local skills

provision.

Paul Little, Principal and CEO of City of Glasgow College, shared

a vision19 around the regeneration and prosperity of Glasgow.

This former second city of the Empire has a proud industrial and

commercial history, but badly needed renewal, regeneration and

(Accessed April 2019)

19 Interview, 4 February 2019

Index