Three colleges in the University of the Highlands and Islands plan to merge to form a new institution in a “once in a generation” opportunity.
The move will bring together Lews Castle College UHI, North Highland College UHI and West Highland College UHI by January 2023.
The new college, as yet unnamed, will involve 9,000 students and around 600 staff at 20 rural and island areas.
The merger plans follow a detailed options appraisal earlier this year.
Where are the college campuses?
Those behind the move say it will make “a real and positive impact” on the lives of people across the region.
The new college will remain within the university network which has 13 institutions across the Highlands and Islands.
Lews Castle is one of the smallest colleges in Scotland, serving students in Lewis, North Uist, Benbecula and Barra.
North Highland College has campuses in Thurso, Halkirk, Alness and Dornoch.
West Highland College has no single, central campus but has learning centres from Ullapool to Kinlochleven.
A merger partnership board has been formed and a coordinator is being sought to take forward the plans.
The board consists of the principals and board chairs of the three colleges, along with staff and student representatives.
It is chaired by Dr Michael Foxley, who served as the university’s regional lead for Further Education between 2014-2021.
A new college ‘of scale and impact’
A statement from the college says: “This is a once in a generation opportunity to build a new college of scale and impact that serves and supports around 9,000 students in 20 remote rural and island campus locations across the Highlands, Skye and the Western Isles.
“It brings together and builds on existing excellence and expertise to create a step change for tertiary learning and skills, research, enterprise and innovation in our region.
“It better serves our students and our communities by providing strengthened career pathways and greater job satisfaction for our staff.”
The statement adds: “It unlocks new opportunities for future strategic development and investment through ambitious collaborations and projects that, as single small colleges, we are finding hard to achieve.”
Dr Foxley said: “If you merge these colleges you have something as big as Inverness College so it becomes a major player within UHI.
“For staff there are benefits in terms of resilience, deeper teams to do things as well as career progression.
Merger plans ‘very exciting’
“For students it will mean improvements to the learning centres and to the curriculum.”
He said the merger is supported by the university management and the Highlands and Islands Students’ Association (HISA).
HISA president Florence Jansen said the move is “very exciting” and will streamline college operations and provide more opportunities for students.
