Borders College and Heriot-Watt University Borders Campus
The final item of business is a members' business debate on motion S2M-5146, in the name of Jeremy Purvis, on the pioneering co-location of Borders College and Heriot-Watt University Borders campus. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament welcomes the signing of the ground-breaking co-location agreement, on Friday 17 November 2006, between Borders College and Heriot Watt University to bring about a combined further and higher education campus in the Borders at Netherdale in Galashiels; recalls the concerns about the proposed relocation of the School of Textiles and Design by the university from the Borders campus to Edinburgh in 2004 but congratulates the group established to work with the university in successfully retaining the internationally renowned school at the Borders campus, and welcomes the extensive funding package from the Scottish Executive and EU structural funds, totalling £27.7 million for the redevelopment of the campus and a further £3.7 million being granted to fund a new community college in Hawick, to provide state-of-the-art learning facilities for the Borders and establish a "university college" model and creative, world-class learning facilities.
It is a pleasure to ask the Parliament to recognise the historic agreement that has been reached between Borders College and Heriot-Watt University to develop the Borders campus, a university college of the Borders.
The campus will house the base of further and higher education in the Borders. Development will begin on site soon thanks to the unprecedented provision by the Scottish Executive of almost £30 million in funding and the receipt of European Union structural funds. The new facilities, shared buildings and resources are to be matched with shared learning ambitions.
With Heriot-Watt University's world-class school of textiles and design and the outstanding Borders College, which received one of the best-ever inspector's reports for a further education institution, the ambition is the same: to create in the heart of the Borders a confident, vibrant, enterprising and innovative learning environment of the highest quality. There should be no other ambition for the Borders. I am sure that my colleague Euan Robson will talk about the exciting developments in Hawick, where, earlier this month, I had the pleasure of seeing the outline plans of the agreement between the university and college for the new community college in the town.
Some people had no confidence that we would ever reach this point. The Borders College team has done a colossal amount of work, which has put major strain on the management and staff. However, at the end, the real prize has been won.
Early in 2004, I was informed that Heriot-Watt University's management had proposed to move the school of textiles and design from the Borders to its Riccarton campus. There was no doubt that its proposal was wrong, and I put together a group and chaired 20 meetings to work up an alternative that would persuade Heriot-Watt to change its mind. The campaign group was made up predominantly of Scottish Borders new ways partners, including David Parker and his team at Scottish Borders Council; David Gass and his team at Scottish Enterprise Borders; Peter Lee and Laurence Cox of Eildon Housing Association; and the chairman of NHS Borders, Tony Taylor, who has extensive experience in the textile industry. They all worked seamlessly to put together a case that would make Heriot-Watt change its mind, and I will never forget the day that I presented that case to the court of Heriot-Watt University.
I record my appreciation of the efforts of those who worked hard on this matter—including, in the later stages, the staff of Heriot-Watt University, especially Stefan Kay from the Borders campus. They knew that they had real partners in the local area and that any move away would have been very regressive.
The school of textiles and design, formerly the Scottish College of Textiles, was established in 1883 and has developed into an leading international textile institution whose graduates work all over the world. The school offers a unique range of courses to match the needs of the global and increasingly high-tech textile and fashion industries. According to the most recent statistics, 83 per cent of its graduates found employment within six months of graduation and a further 6 per cent progressed to postgraduate courses at institutions throughout the United Kingdom—what a record.
I hope that members appreciate the contribution that graduates from Galashiels have made to the world's textile industry. The world's best suits are cut by college graduates and use some of the best cloth in the world, from either Lochcarron in Selkirk or Holland & Sherry in Peebles. I have had the honour of opening the retrospective of Bernat Klein, who in the 1950s and 1960s transformed textile designs. No international catwalk bearing clothes of the highest quality would be without Borders cloth that has been knitted or woven in Galashiels and elsewhere in the Borders.
The finest textile designers, who have explored the uses of various materials, fabrics and wool, have been trained in the Borders. Indeed, when Jim Wallace, as Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning, accompanied me on a visit to the school two years ago, he met people from each continent, all of whom wanted to study in the Borders. The school has an enviable record in leading-edge research projects involving textiles, design, fashion, and clothing and colour science that reinforce our international reputation and contribute towards excellence in teaching.
However, students need proper, top-quality facilities. As a result, under the exciting proposals that we are debating, not only the main campus but the residences will be redeveloped.
The new home of Borders College will sit alongside this world-class textiles institution. Although we have outstanding schools and pupils in the Borders, many of our young people leave the area after school. Of course, that in itself is not a bad thing. However, our challenge is to create an economic environment that attracts people back to the area after they leave higher education.
For those in sixth form, those seeking after-school courses and returning learners who want to enter further education in the Borders, the developments in Netherdale and Hawick and the other areas of my constituency in which Borders College does its work will be the hub of a series of transformed facilities. Those facilities will certainly provide opportunities for young people who have found school difficult or who need extra help to enter full-time education or employment. That point is particularly important to me: I was the first of my family to go to university, even though I found it relatively straightforward.
The investment in the college will mean much better facilities for young people, especially those who have left school to take up employment and who want to return to undertake further learning or training. Of course, that will be important for people such as young parents, those without a car or those who cannot travel regularly who wish to matriculate to higher education but do not want to go to Edinburgh.
The university campus of the Borders model gives Borders College the opportunity to forge deeper relationships with other higher education providers for the Borders and to develop a range of degree courses that could be delivered alongside further education qualifications. That is an ambition of Liz McIntyre, the new principal, and Suzanne Dawson, the new chair, who will develop further the legacy of Bob Murray, who retired last year as principal.
However, the real testimony to whether we are doing the right thing can be heard if we listen to the learners themselves, which I have been doing since I was elected. A student from South America told me that he wanted to study textiles in the Borders because it was simply the best in the world. It is also the right thing for the adult learner who wants the different opportunities that can come with better qualifications but who cannot afford to travel to Edinburgh each day.
The record level of investment for the Borders campus, combined with the secure retention of the school of textiles and design in the Borders for years to come, means not only that we will have first-class facilities but that provision and the types of courses available will be widened and that the relationship between higher, further and secondary education will be deepened. I hope that all members in the Parliament will agree that what is being done in the Borders is indeed the right thing.
I congratulate Jeremy Purvis on securing the debate. The joint campus initiative has been on the go for years and I applaud the tenacity of Borders College, Heriot-Watt University and others in achieving it.
I recall the threat of Heriot-Watt University pulling out altogether. The Borders campus was not in favour and the university was going to centralise everything at the Riccarton campus, which would have dealt a deadly blow to the process. I confess a family connection, as my niece attended the then school of textiles at the Borders campus.
However, this is not the end of the journey. There are plans to develop further tertiary education in the Borders. There are existing links between Borders College and Napier University Edinburgh, particularly in nursing training. There are also links with the University of Dundee, which teaches qualifications to the college's staff. All those links can be enhanced because of the march of technology and the security of the joint campus.
The joint campus will mean shared services, which has implications for staffing. I have been advised that, because those implications were anticipated, there are many temporary posts in line and natural wastage—I do not like that term—will mean that there should be no redundancies. Of course, if we take away administrators, more money is diverted from administration to front-line educational purposes, which is good. Those matters are being investigated now.
Hawick has its new community college, and Borders College is working in tandem with Hawick high school. That alleviates the fears from not so long ago that Hawick would lose any college and that everything would be centralised in Galashiels.
The campus will be a modern learning centre, with teaching rooms for business, information technology and construction skills. Those facilities are badly needed, not only in the Borders but elsewhere.
The Borders construction forum is engaged in the project, but it is also engaged in the construction of the buildings themselves. I hope that not only the existence of the joint campus, but the building of it, will bring business and work to the Borders. Apparently, the main contract at Netherdale has been split into smaller contracts of £1 million to £3 million that will have a bias—if I may use that word—in favour of local companies because, I understand, they currently fall below the threshold for contracts that must be put out to competitive tender in the Official Journal of the European Union.
However, the contract for the larger development at Netherdale has to be put out to tender, because it is worth about £18 million or £19 million—and we all know the rules of European competitive tendering. Therefore, I have asked Borders College to consider some creative contracting. I understand that there is a pre-qualifying period before tendering that will allow Borders College, which is letting the prime contract, to examine the make-up of the organisations that are tendering for the job to find out whether they can service the development after construction, for example. That is important and I want Borders College to pursue it robustly.
The campus is good news for the Borders. It will be a key employer and an asset to the Borders economy, which should not only survive but develop. Jeremy Purvis delivered his speech with his usual modesty, but I look forward to cutting the opening ribbon of the joint campus in October 2008 as the member for Tweeddale, Ettrick, Lauderdale and Penicuik.
I, too, congratulate Jeremy Purvis on securing the debate, and on the way in which he introduced the subject with the customary modesty for which he is renowned.
I welcome the opportunity to debate the state of further and higher education in the Borders. The co-location of Borders College of further education and Heriot-Watt University has been a controversial marriage, which has not been without its critics.
In 2004, there was a scare that the university would withdraw courses from the Borders and move them to Edinburgh. Only thanks to a vigorous campaign by students, staff, the local textiles industry and the wider Borders community did the management at Heriot-Watt reverse its decision to relocate its textiles courses—along with nearly 500 students and staff—from Galashiels to Edinburgh.
Under the current co-location scheme, Borders College and Heriot-Watt will share a further education and university campus at Netherdale in Gala, with Borders College bringing most of its further education provision under one roof. Members will appreciate that the further education college is the sole further education college and major provider of training in the Scottish Borders. It operates from six sites, including Galashiels, Hawick, Duns, Newtown St Boswells and Peebles. Around 10,000 students enrol for a wide variety of courses and programmes to higher national diploma level and beyond. Importantly, the courses and programmes are particularly in subject areas that allow graduates to find employment opportunities in their local area. The college has worked closely with the local enterprise company to shape its curriculum to the local labour market. There is an important link between local education provision, employment opportunities and the vitality of our Borders community.
I hesitate—but only briefly—to raise a couple of issues of concern. There is a concern that, following co-location, both institutions will not be able to maintain their autonomy and their identity as independent institutions. The college and the university are putting a brave face on it, saying that they will operate independently—but how likely is that if funding continues to be squeezed and the pressures for amalgamation continue? We will have to watch out for that.
The other concern is that the investment at Netherdale, although most welcome, represents a centralisation of facilities. One person's co-location is another person's condensation and amalgamation. The co-location scheme will see the Borders College's presence in Hawick slimmed down. That is deeply unfortunate when there is a continuing centralising of services in central Borders—in Galashiels—and a continuing movement of services and investment away from Hawick. A large investment of £30 million is to go into the centralised facilities in Gala, but only one tenth of that amount is to be invested in Hawick. The imbalance between Galashiels and Hawick is therefore further encouraged.
I seek assurances from the minister that funding for further and higher education in the Borders and other rural areas will not be subject to cutbacks. The future of those communities depends on their young people being provided with educational opportunities close to where they grew up, work and live.
I congratulate Jeremy Purvis on securing this debate this afternoon. The co-location agreement is to be welcomed; it secures further education in the Borders. However, like Chris Ballance, I hope that access to further education throughout the Borders will be maintained and that resources will be provided to allow the college to keep its identity separate from that of the university. Access to education should be available to people of any age, including pensioners. That is useful for employment and for other reasons.
After the threats of the move to the Riccarton campus of the school of textiles and design, the present proposals are welcome. I visited the school when it was being threatened with closure and a move to Riccarton, and I was very impressed. The strength of the campaign by the students, the members of staff and the community was fantastic.
Securing the school of textiles and design in Galashiels has been an achievement. I hope that the co-location agreement will further secure the school's future in Galashiels. Chris Ballance talked about Galashiels getting a lot and other areas in the Borders missing out. I hope that we will be able to secure something for other areas in future. It is good news that Hawick will get funding for its college.
The arrangements are imaginative and I hope that they will work out effectively for communities in the Borders. They add facilities for further and higher education access in the Borders, which is to be welcomed. There is now mix and match in further and higher education. Someone can do an HND then go on to do a university course. Access is possible at different times. If that makes education more viable for people in the Borders, it is to be welcomed.
The knock-on effect on the local economy could be good. We must ensure that we safeguard existing lecturing and administrative jobs and so on. We must not diminish what already exists in the area. The funding for the Hawick campus and the increase in the number of students should have a knock-on effect on jobs in those communities. Importantly, it will mean that those communities are noticed further afield. When good education is available in an area, it tends to help make that area more vibrant. I hope that that is what happens in the Borders.
Now that the future of the education campus and the school of textiles and design is secure in the Borders, I hope that the area's reputation for textiles can be maintained. The industry has gone, but this could bring about regeneration. On the back of all of these developments, I hope that people can put their minds to that.
Others have touched on the history of the institutions concerned and their links to the Borders. There are probably few of us with connections to the Borders who do not have family or friends who have been through or who intend to go through some of them. The importance to the Borders of such educational opportunities should not be understated.
The broader issue is the learning opportunities that we provide in the Borders, not only to our young people but to the whole community. Jeremy Purvis was right to talk about the significant number of people who will leave the area to pursue further and higher education. That is to some extent a natural function of growing up, but I sense an increasing trend—through choice or necessity—towards studying closer to home. That trend presents opportunities, which we should not be afraid to grasp, to expand education provision to those who might not be able to take advantage of it in their immediate post-school years. The projects being undertaken represent some great opportunities.
Chris Ballance talked about the tension—that might be putting it too strongly—between Gala and Hawick. There is a sense of imbalance there—perhaps Euan Robson will talk about that in more depth. The regeneration of Hawick, which we all realise is fundamentally important, is a much broader and deeper issue than can be solved simply by education facilities. Over the past 10 years, Galashiels has changed from being a place where almost every house was for sale or to let to one that is positively booming—although that is creating its own problems for local people. The change has been driven by a number of factors. Regeneration throughout the Borders should be viewed quite broadly.
Others have talked about the significance of the textile industry to the Borders. There has been an undeniable decline in the relative importance of textiles, given the number of people employed in it, but it is an important niche for the Borders, particularly if we capture the higher-value end of the market. Securing the textiles faculty at Galashiels is important in that regard. It is a shame that Karen Whitefield is not here today to hear Jeremy Purvis, whom she derided last week as the "man at C&A", talk about high fashion and catwalks.
There are similar initiatives at the Crichton campus in Dumfries to broaden out the provision of education, bring together different sectors and, as far as possible, get rid of the sometimes artificial dividing lines between sectors of education. In view of the increasing links between councils and other organisations in Dumfries and Galloway and the Borders, I hope that educational links can be enhanced too. I am sure that both campuses have something to learn from each other, particularly in relation to the challenges that they face.
The co-location will be a great achievement for the Borders when it is realised. We must not underestimate the importance of providing educational opportunities locally. It is a great achievement for Heriot-Watt University and Borders College.
I congratulate my colleague Jeremy Purvis on securing the debate. I agree entirely with the terms of the motion and look forward to the major changes for the better that the co-location of Borders College and Heriot-Watt University will bring about and the investment in the community college facilities in Hawick. The Borders will benefit from the two linked projects and the future of further and higher education will be secured for the region.
We have come a long way from the worrying and somewhat dismal prospects of 2003. I vividly recall a range of meetings, both public and private, before and after the most recent elections to the Parliament, in which we had to argue vigorously the case for the Borders—not only for Galashiels but for Hawick. At one stage, it looked as if the college would be entirely centralised in Galashiels and that Heriot-Watt would move the school of textiles and design to Riccarton. I am pleased to say that wiser counsel prevailed.
I recall endless working group meetings in Hawick about the position there—I will come on to the issue of the community college in a moment. I congratulate Jeremy Purvis on the amount of work that he put into the co-location proposal; he chaired umpteen meetings. I agree with him that the £30 million project and the structural funding package is a tribute to the college, the new ways partnership, Heriot-Watt University, the funding council, Jim Wallace and Nicol Stephen—the ministers who backed it—and Allan Wilson, who has provided his support throughout.
I want to concentrate my remarks on Hawick. The process of obtaining agreement for the new building, which I cannot mention in this public forum, is being considered by one of the agencies today, and will be considered by another later this month. However, suffice it to say that the £3.7 million investment is a major step forward, given that we were looking at closure.
It is clear that the community college in Hawick will be a state of the art facility, which will offer a range of vocational courses. It is important that a close link will be established between the college and Hawick high school, which, when I was involved in the Education Department, I was pleased to see being one of the first schools in Scotland to be awarded school of ambition status.
The Henderson building, which will be left behind, will present a fine redevelopment opportunity for the town, as it is in a key commercial location. I am sure that Scottish Enterprise Borders, the council and others will endeavour to attract new business to the area—I certainly will. Much has been said about the prospects for the textiles industry. Those who say that it is gone and finished are not correct. It is particularly important to note the recent investment by Hawick Cashmere and the launch of a new collection. I wish the company well in its endeavours to secure sales of the collection, which will be marketed in the far east and worldwide.
I, too, look forward to the opening ceremonies in 2008, both at the co-located campus and at the Hawick site. I am sure that Jeremy Purvis will be there as the MSP for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale, and that Christine Grahame will be there, too, to repeat the peripheral role that she has played so far in the story.
I am struck by how much grace and modesty has been exhibited during the debate.
I congratulate Jeremy Purvis on securing the debate and the Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning on his stamina, as he has gone through a robust stage 3 and remained to respond to the debate. I declare an interest as a member of the colloquium of Heriot-Watt University and as a former postgraduate student at the Scottish College of Textiles.
I am delighted with the progress that is being made at Netherdale, as Galashiels is a fantastic place to study. I was there many years ago, but I can say that it has a special feel to it for students. The relationship between the town and the students is healthy. I was impressed by the talent, expertise, energy and sheer spirit in Galashiels and by the contribution that the college made—I know that that is still the case. I studied business studies, but I was conversant with the issues and concerns that faced the hard-working textiles and design students. The fashion show that the school and Heriot-Watt University put on is certainly the highlight of the year. I urge anyone who receives an invitation to go, because it is a showcase for Scotland and for the students.
I congratulate everybody who is involved in the fantastic developments, which will result in a sea change. We have campaigned for the reopening of the Waverley line. I often travelled from Galashiels to visit my parents on dark winter nights and I know about having to leave at midday on a Sunday to travel over Middleton moor in a cold and draughty bus to get back to Galashiels on a Sunday evening. That experience will be transformed for the students of the future. As members have said, the changes are not only about keeping talent in the Borders; they are also about attracting talent to the college so that people can have the experiences that I had.
Derek Brownlee talked about families. We must reflect—and I hope that the minister will—on the fact that we have a strong Scottish qualifications and credit framework. One of the ideas about the articulation between colleges and universities is that, for those who come from deprived backgrounds and did not have a chance to access university, sometimes a further education college provides a foot in the door. Many of those who worked for the textiles companies that have now unfortunately gone are older women and I would like them to have the opportunity to come back into education through the further education college and then perhaps to move seamlessly on through the education system, perhaps achieving degrees with Heriot-Watt University. Christine Grahame talked about the articulation with the qualifications framework. The new campus is an interesting model—many of us will want to consider and examine its progress in years to come.
I congratulate everybody who is involved in the changes. A phoenix may have arisen from what could have been ashes. The support for the retention of the school in Galashiels came not only from local members—members from throughout the parties wanted the special spirit to be retained. I look forward to seeing progress. We need to ensure that the co-location works for everybody. People in the Borders and elsewhere will examine it closely.
I, too, congratulate Jeremy Purvis on his success in gaining this debate and on the characteristically modest and fashionable way in which he has conducted himself.
The economy of the Scottish Borders continues to flourish, despite some setbacks. It has one of the highest performing labour markets in Scotland. A statistic that I did not know until today—so that is another success for Jeremy Purvis—is that the population of the Borders has increased by nearly 110,000 in the last 10 years. We all know that the area is beautiful and scenic, so I can easily understand why so many folk are proud to call themselves Borderers.
No area is immune from the consequences of economic change, of course, and there have been a number of redundancies in the news recently. That is always regrettable. However, the best way to help people regain employment—and everything that goes with employment—is to have a buoyant economy and a buoyant labour market. I cannot think of any better way of doing that than by investing in a knowledge-based economy that is not susceptible to the magnet effect of cheaper labour. In that context, the point that Fiona Hyslop made about sub-degree qualifications is important, because that is one of the routes by which we can attract people—not only women, as was mentioned, but people whose experience of the traditional education system has not been great—back into learning in order that they might get the qualifications and skills that are necessary to compete in the changing economy.
That is not to say that the Borders has not been successful with regard to the labour market. Unemployment in the region is now only 1.7 per cent, which is significantly lower than the Scottish average of less than 3 per cent. The number of people who own their own business is almost double the Scottish average. It is against that positive economic background that we see this groundbreaking collaborative venture between Borders College and Heriot-Watt University.
In the college sector alone, we are now seeing nothing less than the complete regeneration of the estate—I see that in every college that I go to across Scotland. New college buildings, sometimes whole new campuses and new state-of-the-art facilities have been completed, with many more to follow at Dundee College, Telford College, Langside College, Stevenson College—which I visited last week—Motherwell College, John Wheatley College, North Glasgow College, Jewel and Esk Valley College. The list of colleges that have been or are being transformed into world class learning facilities seems endless. All that work is encouraging people to return to learning and to help us build that knowledge-based economy.
The Executive is continuing to provide record resources to help all that take place with, for example, no less than £150 million being allocated to modernise the learning and teaching infrastructure in the higher education sector over the three years to 2007-08. I had a quiet chuckle to myself when Chris Ballance asked how we could guarantee that investment. I say to him that I can guarantee it for as long as the Liberal Democrats and Labour are in power. However, I hope that we would not give any succour to nationalist extravagance in that regard. The £1.7 billion that it would cost to write off student debt is 10 times the total capital allocation that I mentioned. I would not encourage Chris Ballance along that route.
Scotland's history has shown that, when people leave—or have to leave—our rural areas to continue their education, they often do not come back. Derek Brownlee talked about that. Those young people leave because of a lack of opportunities and facilities and because—if I dare say it—in the past, Governments have lacked the commitment to stem that tide. However, this Executive does not lack that commitment. We have stemmed that tide and we see opportunities for all in the modern Borders.
That is why, for example, we continue to work with the UHI Millennium Institute, which is continuing to expand and develop higher education opportunities in the north of Scotland to support its ambitions for university title and it is why we have actively supported the development of the Crichton campus, bringing higher education to the people of the south-west of Scotland. It is also why I am delighted, this afternoon, to welcome what I am certain will be seen as a showpiece development that will bring a completely new approach to the delivery of learning. It will deliver unprecedented opportunities, allowing people to access locally a wide range of subject areas. Further, it will be a key driver of progression—not merger—between college and university.
It is not only in Galashiels that we see such developments, although I look forward to visiting Galashiels in due course to see another good example—the Scottish manufacturing advisory service, which helps to drive forward the manufacturing sector. For a moment, however, I move our focus slightly further down the A7 and highlight the complementary development in Hawick, which will bring an entirely new community college to the town.
Hawick, too, has had its share of challenges in years gone by, so I welcome Borders College's plan to build an entirely new community college in the town, which is clear evidence of a strong commitment to Hawick. The new college will help to meet the needs of learners and it will be a focus for skills development, which is important in encouraging parity of esteem between vocational education and training and academic routes into employment. I believe that the new college will be an important instrument in the continuing regeneration of the town.
I congratulate Jeremy Purvis again on securing this debate, which heralds the start of an exciting period for learners in the Scottish Borders. I commend the motion to everyone in the chamber and wish them well in the weeks, months and years to come.
Meeting closed at 17:41.