This month I was in Fort William at a joyous graduation ceremony for scores of students who had gained their qualification from Scotland’s newest college, the University of the Highlands and Islands North, West and Hebrides. What these graduates, eager to enter work or progress to university, probably did not know was the huge part they are playing in Scotland’s economic story.
Colleges create wealth, pure and simple. Today, research commissioned jointly by Colleges Scotland and the College Development Network (CDN) from the Fraser of Allander Institute quantifies the huge return on investment from Scotland’s 24 colleges.
The Scottish economy will be £52 billion better off cumulatively over the 40-year working life of college graduates — a staggering figure. Every graduate in Scotland creates an additional £72,000 boost to productivity for the Scottish economy as a result of going to college.
For the class of 2021-22 alone, the Scottish government invested £740 million. The research published today projects that this will lead to an £8 billion boost to the Scottish economy and a £2.8 billion boost to government revenues over 40 years.
It is strange to me when I explain to decision makers, employers and politicians that even with these huge benefits there isn’t a decisive move to invest more, and gain more — in fact, investment is falling sharply. Last month Audit Scotland warned that investment in colleges had fallen by 8.5 per cent over recent years, something college leaders feel keenly.
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Public sector spending is under enormous pressure but colleges are an excellent place for investment as the returns are so rich, not only in increased wealth but in their role as community anchors.
Colleges support thousands of care-experienced students and people trying to move out of poverty, people trying to find their chance not just to survive but to thrive. They are physical places of opportunity in Fort William, Dumfries, Glasgow and Shetland. In short, even with extremely stressful books to balance, colleges are ticking the boxes of equality, community and opportunity, the new ambitions of the Scottish government.
Now more than ever employers need skilled workers to enter and stay in the workforce to increase productivity. College graduates underpin large parts of Scottish society — such as in providing skilled, qualified care home staff — and underpin our economy, in training workers to tackle the climate emergency in industries such as heat pump installation and solar panels. It is critical that we have an upskilled college workforce to support our students and these economic ambitions, and our partners at CDN have a key role in delivering that.
I hope this research drives home the need for sustainable, stable investment in the college sector. Society can’t function without skilled people working in healthcare, in construction, in cybersecurity, and across the creative industries. When colleges thrive, Scotland thrives.
Shona Struthers is chief executive of Colleges Scotland
