CITY OF GLASGOW COLLEGE / MERGER PROPOSAL DOCUMENT
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6.1.4 Staf - Academic and
Professional Benei ts
The merged college will bring
opportunities for staf in related
disciplines - both in teaching and service
areas - to maintain a wider community
of practice with greater opportunity
for the exchange of excellent and
innovative practice and for developing
action-based research activities. Within
this, groups of specialists will share best
practice to the advantage of the college
and its students and will build upon
our existing contributions to subject or
service-focussed communities of practice
as supported by Scotland's Colleges,
Scottish Qualii cation Authority (SQA)
and other sector stakeholders.
The scale of operation will provide a
broad and comprehensive range of
subjects and student-focussed services
and foster greater opportunities for
developing specialisms.
Pooling and sharing of expertise
will present opportunities for more
l exibility and creativity in the design
of programmes to meet student and
employer needs. This will provide a
wider range of stimulating professional
opportunities for staf . The access to a
wider range of expertise and disciplines
will foster cross-curricular activity and
the cross-fertilization of ideas which in
turn should lead to innovation in learning
and delivery methodologies. The scale
of operation will support an enhanced
professional development programme
and stimulating opportunities for staf
with regards to personal development.
Three colleges pooling expertise will
provide opportunities for research and
development 'hubs' relating to key areas
of the college structure; i.e. Curriculum,
Student Support, Equalities, Schools
Liaison, Management of physical
resources This pooling of skills and
resources will add vigour to our systems
and processes and most importantly
will enable staf to focus on the further
development of quality service.
6.1.5 Partners & Stakeholders
Many of the benei ts to partners and
stakeholders are complementary to those
for students - the merged college will
greatly simplify the landscape for partners
seeking to engage in collaborative
educational ventures. Funding
partners, such as the City Council and
Regeneration partnerships will i nd a
simpler, clearer path to strategic decisionmaking.
Those seeking to place students will
i nd the single door approach greatly
simplii es access to information,
guidance and support and eases
transitions between service providers.
Better integrated services will facilitate
progression and referral for those working
with vulnerable or tentative students.
The comprehensive range of disciplines
of ered will be attractive to partners
and external agencies and will increase
the weight of inl uence on behalf
of college provision in Glasgow. The
merger will facilitate broader and deeper
engagement with employers in a diverse
range of industrial and commercial
sectors.
6.1.6 Community
engagement strategy
As part of its commitment to inclusion
the college will maintain a vigorous
community engagement strategy. The
college will work proactively with the
Community Planning Partnerships and
with the Area Regeneration Partnerships
across the city. The college commits to
providing specially targeted support
for students in its neighbouring
communities, particularly the Gorbals and
Townhead, and access to our specialist
vocational subjects across a wider
community platform.
We will work in partnership with the
other Glasgow colleges to ensure
there are appropriate articulation and
progression routes leading students
from i rst steps activity to advanced
accreditation. Our community strategy
will be committed to widening access
across our portfolio and engaging
previously 'hard-to-reach' students of all
ages, and putting in place supportive
strategies to promote both retention and
achievement. The range and scope of
community partnerships and provision
will thereby be considerably extended
and will provide wider opportunities
for students to progress from bespoke
programmes to main college curriculum.
We will build on the acknowledged
strength of our current provision and in
particular, the longstanding commitment
to the regeneration of the Gorbals.
SECTION 6: Supporting Evidence Base
6.1 Academic Benefi ts
The comprehensive range of disciplines of ered will be attractive
to partners and external agencies and will increase the weight of
inl uence on behalf of college provision in Glasgow.