About West College Scotland
West College Scotland is one of the largest colleges in the country. We have 22,000 students, studying full-time, part-time and online. At our campuses in Clydebank, Greenock and Paisley we employ 1,200 people – about 1 per cent of total regional employment. We spend about £40million on salaries, from an annual turnover of £67million.
The College was formed on 1 August 2013 by the merger of Clydebank College, James Watt College (Greenock) and Paisley’s Reid Kerr College. We work with four main local authorities, Inverclyde, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire and West Dunbartonshire. About 65% of our students come from those areas with another 17% coming from Glasgow.
The College is accredited as STEM-assured by the STEM Foundation. We were the first College in the UK and the first Scottish educational establishment of any kind to be invited by the Microsoft Organisation to become one of its Showcase Schools.
We have productive partnerships with businesses, extending to hundreds of employers across the region and beyond. We support and work with them to improve their performance and help them grow. The College helps upskill employees, support product development and workforce planning. We want to use our unique reach into the business base, especially our relationships with small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to enhance all aspects of business innovation.
The College also works with all the secondary schools in the region, and we host the Developing the Young Workforce (West) team which brings school pupils and employers together. We are also active members of our local Chambers of Commerce.
One-third of our activity is delivered to students living in communities which are among the 10 per cent most deprived in Scotland, according to Scottish Funding Council figures, and almost 50 per cent of activity is delivered to students living in communities which are among the 20 per cent most deprived.
Since merger, West College Scotland has used its scale and connections to develop a leadership role in the education and skills landscape of the West of Scotland. We are uniquely placed to shape and deliver a strategic vision of future employability for the benefit of employers, the local economy and social cohesion.
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