Facts and Figures

Our Colleges

Scotland's 24* colleges operate in 13 regions across the country, allowing them to plan locally, regionally, and nationally for the benefit of individuals, communities, the economy, and wider society.

*includes Newbattle Abbey College and Sabhal Mòr Ostaig which sit outwith regional arrangements.

SRUC is a higher education institution which delivers further education provision.

College Funding 2023/24

Total Revenue Funding £658.6m
including
Student Support £137.0m

Total Capital Funding £82.4m
including
Estates Maintenance £35.9m
Digital Poverty (for colleges, universities, and CLD) £5.0m

Colleges will also benefit from:

Student Mental Health and Wellbeing Transition Fund of £3.21m (for colleges and universities)

Active Campus Network funding of £1.45m

At least 70% of college budgets go towards staffing costs

Around 20% of colleges' income does not come directly from the Scottish Funding Council

College Revenue Funding Trend

2016/17 £542.5m
2017/18 £559.2m
2018/19 £588.9m
2019/20 £615.3m
2020/21 £685.3m
2021/22 £732.8m
2022/23 £696.3m
2023/24 £658.6m

Funding Per Student (2022/23)

Secondary School £7,657
College £5,054
University £7,558

College Estates

In 2023/24, the sector received £82.4m in Capital funding, with £35.9m of that allocated for estates maintenance.

While some colleges have benefited from investment in buildings, digital and classroom equipment in recent years, others are urgently in need of repair and upgrading.

As recognised by Audit Scotland, the estimated backlog maintenance and lifecycle maintenance requirements for the sector’s estates was approximately £473m over the last five years to 2022/23, however there has been a shortfall of £321m of the amount required during this period.

Colleges should have great learning and working environments for students and staff, which also help colleges to meet net-zero ambitions as organisations and public sector assets.

College Staff

There are 14,321 staff in colleges (10,849 FTEs)

Lecturing Staff 51%
Support Staff 49%

Full-time/Part-time

Full-time 69%
Part-time 31%

Gender

Women 61%
Men 39%

86% of full-time permanent lecturing staff have a recognised teaching qualification

3% of staff are from minority ethnic groups

8% of staff have a declared disability

47% of staff are aged 51 and over

4% of staff are from the EU and 2% from overseas outwith the EU

Management and Governance

(as at 1st October 2022)

College Chairs

Men 75%
Women 25%

College Boards

Men 52%
Women 48%

College Principals

Men 58%
Women 42%

Senior Management

Men 43%
Women 57%

Supporting Economic Recovery

Colleges are the biggest delivery agent of Modern Apprenticeships, supporting 13,109 students

25% of pupils who achieved a Foundation Apprenticeship in S4 and S5 went to college

Colleges supported the delivery of Foundation Apprenticeships for 4,122 Senior Phase pupils across every region in 12 industry sectors with 212 employers

24% of students are enrolled in STEM subjects in colleges

Nine colleges are STEM Assured, accredited through the STEM Foundation

23,486 people are on Flexible Workforce Development Fund programmes.

The £10m fund allows employers to access training and development opportunities in colleges to fill identified skills gaps, upskill, and retrain their workforce.

29% of all learning activity took place in health and care related subjects (the largest share of any subjet group0

111,459 enrolments are linked to industry

Care has the highest number of enrolments linked to industry

92,093 students are studying as part of their occupation

23,850 students are studying digital skills - 13% at HE level

Colleges continues to support the Young Person’s Guarantee to help young people into training and jobs.

Supporting Communities

26% of school leavers go into further education

College is the most popular destination for those from the lowest socio-economic backgrounds with 36% of school leavers from SIMD20 moving into further education

50% of school leavers from S4 went to college

8% of full-time enrolments were by minority ethnic groups

24% of students have a recorded disability

17% of students have a mental health condition

1,743 students are on HNC Childcare courses

Our Students

There are 236,730 college students

The median age of a college student is 21

1 in 5 (20%) of Scotland’s 18-19 year-olds attended college full-time

Age

Under 16 years 17%
16-24 years 40%
25 years and over 43%

Gender

Men: 47%
Women: 51%
Other/prefer not to say: 2%

Hours of Learning

Colleges delivered around 71 million hours of learning

Hours of Learning by Age:

Under 16 6%
16-24 64%
25 and over 30%

94% of all learning hours lead to a recognised qualification

Mode of Attendance

Full-time 21%

Part-time 79%

Level of Study

Further Education 86%

Full-time 12%
Part-time 74%

Higher Education 14%

Full-time 9%
Part-time 5%

Colleges deliver around 13% of all higher education in Scotland

There were 45,135 entrants to higher education in colleges

65% of higher education entrants in colleges are on HNC or HND programmes

42% of all full-time college activity is in higher education

24% of entrants to higher education courses in colleges are from the 20% most deprived areas of Scotland

46% of full-time firstdegree entrants from the 20% most deprived areas progressed to university after graduating from college

8,690 students with an HNC/D progressed from college to university:

54% entered into year 2 or 3 at university, and

24% of those were from the 20% most deprived backgrounds

Top 10 Subject Areas

Health Care/Medicine/Health and Safety 52,953 (number of students)
Family Care/Personal Development/Personal Care and Appearance 42,409
Engineering 30,795
Information Technology and Information 23,543
Business/Management/Office Studies 19,898
Construction and Property (Built Environment) 18,152
Area Studies/Cultural Studies/Languages/Literature 11,200
Catering/Food/Leisure Services/Tourism 10,605
Sciences and Mathematics 10,425
Sports, Games and Recreation 8,488

Overseas Students

	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	2020/21	2021/22
Europe (including EU)	505	503	769	267	305	238
International (outwith Europe)	607	616	867	709	1,012	759
Rest of UK	914	843	1,376	1,253	1,800	1,794

217 nationalities are represented in colleges

Student Funding

Bursary: £93.3m
Discretionary: £16.1m
Childcare: £8.8m

Response to the Climate Emergency

Colleges have a key role in tackling the climate emergency and delivering Scotland’s ambitions to achieve net-zero. All colleges have signed up to a Statement of Commitment on the Climate Emergency which supports Scotland’s efforts to achieve net-zero climate emissions by 2045, with Scotland’s colleges aiming to achieve net-zero by 2040 or earlier.

Working in partnership with employers, colleges are training people in everything from offshore windfarms to electric vehicles. The college sector delivers the world-class skills, upskilling and reskilling that we need now, and that will be needed in the future, as access to lifelong learning becomes an absolute requirement for every worker.

Scotland needs skilled workers to construct and maintain onshore energy facilities, install domestic heat pumps and solar systems, and improve Scotland’s transport network. College graduates are meeting the dramatic changes brought about by emerging technologies from machine learning to artificial intelligence.

As well as delivering training for key renewable sectors, colleges are embedding sustainability into mainstream courses through, for example, providing sustainability elements as part of hair, beauty, and hospitality courses.