Exclusive:SNP urged to give power to regions to boost economy and save Scotland's colleges and universities

The boss of one of Scotland’s biggest colleges has told SNP ministers they could reinvigorate the economy and help save the nation’s crisis-hit further education institutions by handing more power to the regions.

Audrey Cumberford, who has been the principal of Edinburgh College since 2018, said it was time to give each area the “authority, freedom and autonomy” to deliver what was needed locally. She said the move should be considered as part of a wider review into the future of tertiary education in Scotland.

Ms Cumberford issued the plea as she warned colleges like Edinburgh were now at risk of shrinking each year as a result of a funding system that is effectively “managed decline”.

Edinburgh College principal Audrey Cumberford | Edinburgh College

In 2012, the Scottish Government announced changes that created 13 college regions, and led to a series of mergers that reduced the number of colleges from 41 to 26. However, Ms Cumberford said she believed the benefits of this change were not fully delivered, saying Scotland missed a “huge, huge opportunity”.

In an exclusive interview with The Scotsman, she pointed to devolution of powers relating to skills and apprenticeships to local partnerships in areas like Manchester and the West Midlands.

Calling for more autonomy for Scottish regions, Ms Cumberford said: “We are the only college in Edinburgh, but our wider region comprises Fife College, we’ve got the Borders, West Lothian, we’ve got four universities.

“When it comes to skills planning and delivery, apprenticeships, could we be doing that in a different way or a better way? I believe the answer to that is yes.”

Ms Cumberford said it could build on partnerships established through the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal, which was finalised in 2018.

She said: “Why reinvent the wheel, why not build on something? We’ve got eight regional economic partnerships in Scotland, therefore let’s look at how we could potentially do things differently.

“There is already an arrangement that is working, delivering results in the Edinburgh and South East Region.”

She added: “It’s saying ‘OK, actually what would the most effective and efficient regional planning and delivery model look like, what would we want it to deliver in a region, and then it is over to the people in the region’.

“Give us the authority and the freedom and the autonomy to actually work out what that model needs to look like for Edinburgh and the wider region. I would be hesitant to say there is a one-size-fits-all, because regions are different.

“Therefore it is about having some kind of flex and being clear about our national priorities that we all have to contribute towards, but loosen us up within our regions, and give us the accountability that goes with it.”

Ms Cumberford has previously served as a board member of the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), and of the Scottish Government’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation delivery board.

In 2020, she co-authored the Cumberford-Little report, commissioned by the Scottish Government to consider what more Scottish colleges can do to help improve businesses’ performance and productivity.

Her intervention comes as Scotland’s colleges prepare to face another real-terms cut in funding from the Scottish Government, on top of a 17 per cent reduction since 2021/22.

She said: “The sustainability of the current model is bust. The SFC did their sustainability coherence report, we’ve had the recent Audit Scotland report, we’ve had numerous other reports and conversations that are showing quite clearly the direction of travel over a number of years. If you project that out, it is managed decline.

“If you imagine Edinburgh College as a box, we’re at the point now of just becoming a smaller version of the same box.

“That is despite the fact that we are in the economic powerhouse of Scotland, despite the fact the population shifts are coming through to the east, despite the fact our own internal intelligence is showing year-on-year-on-year increasing demand for not just individuals, i.e. students, but increasing demand from businesses in the region saying ‘we need your help, we need you to upskill to reskill staff’, etc.”

Ms Cumberford added: “Scottish Government are using the word ‘reform’ a lot. And one of my difficulties about that is that I agree reform has to happen, but what Government needs to be clear about is why, and what do you want that reform to deliver?

“Or is it purely financial? Are you saying reform because the current funding is not sustainable, therefore something has to happen, something has to give, to get back to something that is sustainable.

“At the moment what that reform is looking like isn’t reform. It’s just a year-on-year managed decline.”

As an example of the college’s inability to meet demand, the principal highlighted that Edinburgh was one of two colleges in Scotland that had a very large provision of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL).

Ms Cumberford said: “We have a lot of people wanting to become economically active. In Edinburgh, language is one of the biggest barriers to that.

“My vice-principal confirmed we didn’t have a place for over 500 people who wanted to come to our college to learn how to speak English. They are living here and want to work here, but they can’t because they need English.”

Sir Paul Grice, principal of Queen Margaret University, recently backed calls for a commission to review the future of higher education in Scotland, including the SNP’s free tuition policy.

Ms Cumberford said any review must look at the future of universities and colleges together.

“I would say it is the right time,” she said. “We need a review of funding of tertiary education in Scotland.

“It feels like doom and gloom all of the time. But actually, when people step back from the doom and the gloom, and collectively said ‘is there an opportunity here to look at getting the policy right, the policy drivers, getting the funding right, getting the organisations doing the delivery right’, then actually we could have something really, really wonderful.”