Scottish colleges have secured nine places on the Tes FE Awards 2018 shortlist, published today. A total of six colleges have made the shortlist in at least one of the 17 categories, with City of Glasgow College in contention for three categories, including apprenticeship programme of the year and employer engagement.

Ayrshire College has secured two nominations, joining City of Glasgow College on the shortlist for employer engagement while also making the cut in the support for learners category. West Lothian, Forth Valley and Dundee and Angus colleges, as well as Inverness College UHI, were all shortlisted in one category.

Winners in the 15 categories with a shortlist, as well as the winner of the lifetime achievement award, will be announced at a glittering ceremony in London’s Grosvenor House hotel on 23 February.

Once again, a number of new categories were added this year, with awards for specialist provider of the year and adult and community provider of the year up for grabs for the first time.

On the night, the winner of the overall FE provider of the year award will also be named. The winners of the FE college, training provider and sixth-form college of the year, as well as the two new categories, will be in the running for that flagship award.

‘Motivational’

At the 2017 awards, South Tyneside College was named overall provider of the year after winning the college of the year award. Chief executive Lindsey Whiterod says winning has been “motivational to staff and inspiring to students, and has brought tremendous opportunities to develop new and positive relationships with businesses and business leaders across the North East and beyond”.

“South Tyneside College’s education and training provision was already highly respected, but our awards success has raised the esteem in which we are held, and our profile, higher still. The effects of winning have been entirely positive and we have a stronger and more influential voice because of it,” she said.

David Jones, chief executive of Coleg Cambria, who won the FE leader of the year award, said: “The Tes FE Awards are the FE sector awards. We were delighted to have four shortlisted entries in three categories last year. I was so pleased that my colleague Yvonne Evans won assessor of the year, and with such an illustrious judging panel, to win the FE leader of the year was a personal highlight from almost 30 years in the sector.”

Education Secretary John Swinney said: “I would like to congratulate all the Scottish colleges that have been shortlisted for the Tes FE awards, and wish them the best of luck on the night. Scotland has a healthy representation across many of the categories this year, which I believe is testament - in part at least - to the Scottish government’s continued commitment to further education, which was recently bolstered by the introduction of our national college improvement programme.”

He added: “Scottish colleges continue to focus on job-related skills, which are improving people’s life chances and generating the skilled workforce needed for economic growth. It is great to see Scottish students making the most of those opportunities.”