54 I have on many occasions made the point that we are, or in my view ought to be, creating a new
institution dif erent from all other colleges in Scotland. The institution should be unashamedly
educational and academic in nature and character. (By 'academic' I do not mean research/new
knowledge oriented, nor do I want it to position itself to become yet another university in the future)
This means it should be open and welcoming, not elitist, opening up opportunities for all but based
on well understood educational features,eg learning for both vocational and general life skills. From this
base I would urge that we use well recognised titles and not be seduced by those used in commerce
and industry on the rather spurious grounds that we are a big business.
Hence Principal rather than Chief Executive. But why not explore other possibilities such as Rector
Provost President or even Director(although I acknowledge some might want to argue the last one is
too akin to business.) Others may come up with some other suggestions. Are there any historic Scottish
university/college titles?
In an attempt to dif eretiate ourselves from other colleges we might consider a title not including
the word 'College' since we will have (probably) the widest range of subjects/courses/programmes in
Scotland, will be the largest instituion, probably the most diverse in backgrounds, have a goal to be
i rst choice destinationfor overseas students. My suggestion would be for Glasgow Polytechnic with
possibly a descriptor between Glasgow and Polytechnic.
The 1970's polytechnics in England&Wales and later Scotland left the tile behind because it was felt to be
'inferior' to university. There is little doubt overseas students saw a a distinction between the two. To the
extent the word is used nowadays eg in East Africa it does signify post school non university educaton.
I would ask the board to be adventurous and wide ranging in coming to a decision on the new name.
It won't get a second bite at choosing a name for a very long time indeed.
55 I understand the desire to make rapid progress towards cross college functions and responsibilities and
I am sure that there will be signii cant economies of scale.
I am not entirely sure that it is my role to suggest a new name for the College but New College Glasgow
seems to me to be a sensible choice.
56 All mergers tend to take time for employees to adjust to the changes that will inevitably take place.
The consultation document outlines clearly the objectives of the management and if all changes
etc are properly communicated to the employees af ected it should lead to a successful merger for
management, employees and students.
57 UWS, as an institution which has recently completed a similar process, fully understands the
complexity of the task facing the three colleges. We are particularly pleased to see specii c mention of a
communication strategy as we believe this is critical if stakeholders (internal and external) are to be fully
engaged with the proposals.
On the matter of a name for the merged college we have no suggestions for an alternative to the
working title of New College Glasgow but have to express some reservations about continuing with
this - 'new' has a limited shelf life.
58 We recognise the immensity of the challenge in merging three colleges where issues remain from
previous merger activity. We would seek reassurance that the management capacity is appropriate in
terms of ensuring the learner experience is adequate whilst the merger and new build activity is on-going.
We are aware that where colleges become involved in dii cult employment issues, with resultant poor
industrial relations, the reputational and practical ef ects can be felt well beyond the boundaries of
the colleges involved. Cardonald College, Glasgow has excellent employee relations and we would
seek reassurance that the challenging issues around potential changes in terms and conditions and
reduction in staf numbers will be handled in a spirit of partnership.
We appreciate that a larger organisation might provide greater opportunities for promotion, however,
fewer posts, as a result of the proposed economies of scale, may negate this advantage in the eyes of staf .
Substantial public funding is already being channelled into the New City Campus company. The
proposal to appoint Directors for each of the existing colleges on an interim basis will fundamentally
add to the costs of this project.
59 SCDI has no specii c comments on the governance, management and i nances of New College Glasgow.
CONTINUED OVERLEAF
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Appendix 10: Consultation Results