Colleges Scotland

Our CEO Gavin Donoghue gave an interview to BBC Radio Scotland Lunchtime Live today on the Young people and work: interim report by Alan Milburn. You can listen here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002wt16 (starts 06:30)

Lunchtime Live - 28/05/2026 - BBC Sounds News updates from Scotland and beyond, plus all your lunchtime sport, travel and weather.

Creating Safer Colleges: A practical toolkit to strengthen college responses to gender-based violence (GBV) and harassment - College Development Network CDN in partnership with Colleges Scotland and stakeholders across the sector, has launched Creating Safer Colleges – A practical Toolkit to Strengthen Colllege Responses to GBV and Harassment.

Congratulations to Stuart Lyons New College Lanarkshire and Charlie Priestley North East Scotland College on being chosen for the WorldSkills UK Team UK at the WorldSkills International Competition taking place in Shanghai in September.

Read more 👉 https://bit.ly/3QojlOd

The Colleges Scotland office will be closed for the Easter break on Friday 3 April and Monday 6 April.

We hope you have a restful and enjoyable long weekend, and we’ll be back open as normal on Tuesday 7 April.

Today we are pleased to jointly announce the launch of College Sector of the Future, an evidence-based future-proofing exercise to shape colleges for the next generation, and ensure they are a first-choice for future learners:

College Sector of the Future workstream launched Colleges Scotland is the collective voice of the college sector in Scotland; striving to create cohesive and sustainable partnerships, demonstrate positive impa

We attended the launch of NUS Scotland's 2026 Student Manifesto today and welcome their call to invest in colleges. Read our comment here: https://bit.ly/4cfSwEY

Today we held a College Hustings event at Edinburgh College. The event brought together spokespeople from each of the main political parties for a debate on their priorities for colleges, students and skills in the next Parliament.



Ben Macpherson MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith Paul O'Kane MSP Willie Rennie for North East Fife Graham Simpson MSP Ross Greer - Scottish Greens Miles Briggs

We’re proud to launch Opportunity That Works — Colleges Scotland’s manifesto for the 2026 election.

Scotland’s colleges change lives every day. But years of underinvestment mean fewer opportunities for learners and employers just when Scotland needs more skills, not fewer.

Our manifesto calls for:

• Fair, long term investment
• Stronger support for students facing poverty or additional needs
• Colleges leading regional skills planning and apprenticeships
• Modern, fit for purpose buildings and digital infrastructure

A stronger Scotland starts with stronger colleges.

Learn more here: https://collegesscotland.ac.uk/documents/briefings-and-publications/publications/2585-cs-2026-manifesto-final/file

Yesterday, our CEO appeared on BBC Reporting Scotland to discuss the latest Scottish Funding Council college statistics report and the reasons for the continued fall in student numbers across Scotland.

Watch on iPlayer (starts 16:35):

Reporting Scotland - News at Seven: 04/02/2026 More from the day’s top stories and communities across Scotland.