New Campus Glasgow: Strategic Benefits Analysis
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Agencies) have asserted that communities are not generally 'put-off' by needing to travel to
the city centre to pursue provision that is not available to them in their local college.
4.8 Key to the discussion of the colleges' role in community engagement and social
inclusion is the role of Glasgow's five 'Community Colleges' (Langside, Cardonald, John
Wheatley, Anniesland and North Glasgow). As described in Section 2, the 'Roughroad to the
Superhighway' establishes a vision of the three city-centre colleges offering specialist FE
provision to meet city and national needs, while community colleges respond more directly to
local regeneration and learning needs - with the community colleges acting as spokes,
directing learners on to the city-centre college 'hub'.
4.9 There was mixed support for this model within our consultations. Broadly,
stakeholders believe this to be a sensible model, while stressing that the three city-centre
colleges should not lose focus of their community engagement role. 'The city-centre colleges
need to be as much about the community as the community colleges themselves' was a
regularly aired view. Indeed, recognising this, GCNS will retain a presence in the Gorbals
following the new build.
4.10 On the part of the community colleges, there was real sense of missed opportunity for
them to be engaged in the dialogues about the curriculum institutes and their possible
contribution to them as 'centres of excellence'. There was a consistent view from community
colleges that they did not exist merely as 'feeds' to the city-centre colleges and that there
ought to be the potential for two-way flows between city-centre and community colleges to
maximise opportunities for the FE learners, depending on their needs.
4.11 Staff in several colleges indicated that they feel the relatively 'friendly' sense of team
which exists in the colleges currently could often be important in engaging with and retaining
students - and that the new campus would need to ensure that this sense of community is not
lost within the scale of the new build. Improved facilities for learners, such as a crèche facility
for example, can enable the new campus to maximise its impact in engaging learners.
4.12 The three colleges already undertake outreach work with school teachers, social work
department at Glasgow City Council, and even banks. However, there was a view among
staff that outreach would not be affected in any significant way by the new campus, given that
most of this work does not take place 'on' the campus itself.
4.13 A more narrow definition of community benefit is to consider the NCG's potential
impact on the neighbouring Townhead community. Townhead is relatively deprived (54% of
the local population is economically inactive, compared to 35% in Glasgow and 24%
nationally) and is currently 'sandwiched' between the Cathedral St site and Caledonian
University. There is a view that the scale of NCG may inspire learners from this community,
but also a strong view that the community has felt isolated from previous developments at
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Appendix 13: Economic Impact Report