Gold star for Inverness College UHI as it receives glowing inspector’s report

Inverness College UHI has been commended in an Education Scotland report released today (6 May 2016) following its four-yearly inspection in March.

Inspectors highlighted the college’s strong leadership and ability to maintain and enhance its offering to learners and the wider community, and praised the significant improvements made in a relatively short space of time.

The report also highlights a number of specific strengths including:

• The relevance of the college’s programmes to the economic needs of the region, supported by its close relationship with key industry sectors
• The clear pathways offered for students who want to continue their education or move into employment
• The high-quality of learning and teaching
• The high percentage of Further Education leavers, whose destinations are known, who progress to employment or further study (almost 97 per cent)
• The college’s strong partnership working with students to identify and implement improvements
• The growing profile and good work of the students’ association
• The college’s open and positive ethos, clear direction and culture of continuous improvement

Diane Rawlinson, principal and chief executive at Inverness College UHI, welcomed the report.

She said: “This extremely positive report for Inverness College UHI is testament to the commitment shown by staff and students to make their college a leader in the field of further and higher education.

“The past few years have been transformational for the college. Not only have we moved to our new estates at Inverness Campus and Balloch, we have worked hard to foster a culture of continuous improvement and develop closer working relationships with the wider community and the region’s key industries. This has contributed greatly to our success and we will continue to build on this going forward.”

A few areas for further development were also identified in the report, which the College will be looking to address over the coming academic year. These include improving student completion rates on a few programmes, further developing student engagement in class representation and building awareness of student funding systems.