Letter: Colleges essential

I WRITE in response to your article entitled "Poorer Scots 'fail to reach higher education'" (15 September). Your article rightly included the Cabinet Secretary's reference to the delivery of higher education in Scotland differing to that in England and Wales.

Colleges in Scotland deliver almost double the percentage of higher education compared with colleges in England. A report from the Scottish Government published in August highlighted that colleges in Scotland are widening access to higher education for students from the most deprived areas.

In 2007-2008, more than 20 per cent of the students who enrolled in higher education courses at colleges in Scotland came from the country's poorest areas, a record of success which Scottish colleges are rightly proud of.

When considering the delivery of higher education in Scotland we must include the essential work that our colleges do to widen participation. Colleges offer access and progression to learners who may never have considered enrolling on a university course, and work with employers and stakeholders to ensure that the higher education courses offered are relevant, comprehensive and will improve the graduate's prospects at a challenging economic time.

Colleges are an essential part of the higher education framework in Scotland and we are pleased that the Cabinet Secretary recognises their importance. Scotland's colleges will continue to work to ensure that students from all economic backgrounds have access to, and are encouraged to progress onto, higher education in our institutions.

Linda McTavish

Scotland's Colleges' Principals' Convention

Castle Business Park

Stirling