Meet the former Alex Salmond aide charting a brighter future for Scotland's universities and colleges

It is clear from even a glance at the CV of the new chief executive of the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) that she is not the kind of person to shirk a challenge.

Not only did Francesca Osowska serve as principal private secretary to Alex Salmond in his initial period as First Minister, from 2007 to 2009, but soon after she was handed the task of overseeing the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 for the Scottish Government.

Then, she took up a post as director of the Scotland Office in the UK government in the aftermath of the 2014 independence referendum, as politics north of the Border was dramatically realigning amid a surge in support for the SNP.

In her spare time, meanwhile, she has completed four ironman events.

“It was a rollercoaster ride at times,” she said of her work as an aide to Mr Salmond. “But I found it was an immensely pleasurable and privileged job to do.

“You were working closely with a politician who is a big political animal. It was flipping hard work, but I got a lot out of it in terms of being able to see the decision-making at the centre of Government, up close and personal.”

Scottish Funding Council chief executive Francesca Osowska | SFC

Ms Osowska also described the atmosphere in the early days of the first SNP administration as “very optimistic”.

The official exuded her own sense of optimism as she spoke exclusively to The Scotsman, just six days into her new job as chief executive of the SFC.

This is despite arriving from her previous role as chief executive of the NatureScot agency to find an in-tray that is overflowing.

Not only is the SFC due to expand, restructure and gain beefed-up powers, under legislation published just last week.

But it is also responding to a financial crisis in both the further and higher education sectors, not least at Dundee University, which she revealed could be backed with emergency funding.

Being CEO of the SFC could end up being Ms Osowska’s greatest challenge yet.

“It is an interesting situation when you start a job... but then immediately on day one, you’ve got this thing, which is challenging,” she said of Dundee.

“There are some, again - that ‘challenges’ word - and Dundee has obviously risen to the top of the priority pile, for me, but I think it is worth just saying and reiterating the strength of Scotland’s tertiary education sector.”

While Dundee University has been in the headlines of late, many of the nation’s colleges have been in financial peril for some time.

Government advisor James Withers referred to the sector as “a burning platform in relation to finance and sustainability”, while Edinburgh College principal Audrey Cumberford recently told The Scotsman she feared it was in “managed decline”.

Ms Osowska, who succeeded Karen Watt in the CEO role, said: “I’m not going to pretend to you that the financial situation isn’t tough, and we know it is.”

Does the SFC chief executive believe that Scotland will still have 24 colleges in five to 10 years?

“Impossible for me to say. I mean there are lots of discussions, and not just with colleges but universities, about different models, including some really good collaborative working between colleges and universities,” she said.

“Now, there may be change in the future, but we at the funding council, we don’t start from a presumption of saying, ‘okay in five years time this is what we want the landscape to look like’.

“We start from the presumption of ‘what is going to work best in terms of the learners and financial and other health metrics, if you like, for institutions’. How do we work together?”

Throughout the interview, Ms Osowska is keen to emphasise the opportunities that exist for these sectors, as well as the SFC itself.

It is why she took the “really big decision” to leave NatureScot after more than seven years.

“It was really instilled into me, I’ve got my mother to thank for this, that education is the future, and we as a society and whatever subject matter you’re going to think of, whether it is Net Zero or nature recovery, health and social care, we’re only going to evolve as a society in my mind with the right education, the right skills,” she said.

“Coming into a sector which is doing that and is on the cusk of a really exciting reform programme, which to my mind should enhance the sector, make things better for learners. That’s exciting.”

Graeme Dey published the new Bill last week | Picture: Scottish Parliament TV

Last week, Further and Higher Education Minister Graeme Dey published the Tertiary Education and Training Bill, which contained new measures enabling the SFC to monitor the financial sustainability of institutions like Dundee University.

If passed by MSPs, the Bill will also see responsibility for providing national training programmes and apprenticeships move from Skills Development Scotland (SDS) to the SFC.

It is understood it could lead to significant numbers of SDS staff moving to the SFC.

On the day in January that Mr Dey announced the change, an all-staff online meeting was arranged at the body.

“I think people welcomed the openness, people welcomed the conversation early on,” said Ms Osowska.

“They want to be involved. Yeah, they are thinking about ‘what does this mean for my job’. That is the reassurance people want.

“Most people in the funding council, their role will continue as it is. Obviously over time, as we integrate the functions of Skills Development Scotland, we will want to look and see where we can have synergies.”

Ms Osowska, who said no compulsory redundancies were expected from the funding council perspective, insisted the structural changes were not just about saving money.

“The reforms that are in place I believe will enhance the sector as a whole, and ensure Scotland’s tertiary sector continues to perform as strongly as it has, but also develop some of those opportunities for learners,” she said.