28/05/2010
Minister and business congratulate colleges for meeting challenges
Both the Education Minister and the CBI at the ColegauCymru annual conference yesterday congratulated the further education sector for getting on with the job in difficult times and for continuing to meet the challenge of delivering outstanding teaching and learning for businesses and individuals in straightened times.
Further education colleges are working harder than ever to meet the challenges of delivering more with less, transforming post-16 education, helping to grow Wales out of recession, widening access to education, and raising standards – all at the same time. It is a tall order. Colleges were therefore delighted to be recognised and publicly thanked for their perseverance and “can do” attitude by key speakers at the ColegauCymru conference on Thursday, 27 May.
Leighton Andrews, Minister for Children, Education and Lifelong Learning, said: “I want to congratulate further education institutions for the way in which they have responded to our agenda for change. They have supported skills development, broadened curriculum options for young people and offered learning opportunities to a huge range of people of all ages, background and experience. They have made an enormous contribution to our ambition to improve social justice and enhance the skills base of the Welsh workforce”.
David Rosser, Director of CBI Wales said: “Colleges are working hard to respond to employer demands in training. Well done and many thanks.”
Dr John Graystone, Chief Executive of ColegauCymru said: “Colleges have been working hard to raise standards in teaching and learning whilst having to make efficiencies over the last few years. It is very heartening that the Minister and the business sector recognise that further education colleges in Wales are meeting their demands.
“Estyn, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate in Wales, has previously recognised a number of Wales’ further education colleges as ‘outstanding’. But colleges are working still harder. They are not only managing challenging budgets and delivering outstanding teaching and learning. They are responding to the needs of the wider economy, seeking to ensure that all learners have wide access to vocational study options and developing partnerships with schools, universities and businesses.
“Colleges are not complacent. They recognise that improvements can still be made in performance and are working hard to achieve these.
“In this difficult time for the economy, ColegauCymru is pleased that the Minister recognises that the relationship between further education and higher education takes on a greater importance. Colleges can deliver higher education programmes locally, cutting down on the disruption to people’s domestic and working patterns, and saving on accommodation costs. Further education also of course provides a key stepping stone to higher education studies.”
Turning to the future, the Minister, Leighton Andrews, set out his intention to set up an expert panel to explore models of governance for further education under the chairmanship of Mr Rob Humphreys. Making it clear that it was not his intention to turn the clock back and return further education colleges to local authority control, the Minister said: “I want to build on [colleges’] success and ensure that further education institutions have governance arrangements that will continue the progress that further education has made since incorporation 17 years ago, and that will sustain that progress for the next 17 years.”
Dr John Graystone concluded: “I am delighted that the Minister recognises the very many successes that colleges have made since they became incorporated bodies, and that they are continuing to deliver successfully. Our current stakeholder model of governance has served us well to date. We look forward to engaging positively with the expert panel on governance. It is critical that colleges are fully enabled to meet future challenges, to respond to the demands of its key stakeholders including learners, universities, businesses and the Welsh Assembly Government, and to continue to deliver excellence”.