This week's blog is by Joanna Campbell, Principal of Dumfries and Galloway College.  Colleges Scotland is marking the diversity and variety of the work that Scotland's 24 colleges do with our new blog series, 24 in 2024.

Now is the time to invest in skills 

When I was asked to write this blog piece, I gave some thought to what piece of the skills challenge Dumfries and Galloway College is really making a difference on at the moment. The answer is easy – green skills – and I’m proud of the steps we have taken to support local employers and our wider community to tackle climate change. But I wanted to unpack the mechanics a little of how our college has been able to do this and it’s quite a revealing story in the current political context. 

Capitalising on the work we have already been pioneering in this area, we have proudly launched a new Net Zero Skills Centre, a significant step towards promoting sustainability and supporting local businesses in transitioning to a greener future. This initiative is funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and aims to provide businesses with the essential skills and knowledge required to adapt to the evolving demands of a low-carbon economy.

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund, a vital element of the previous UK Government's Levelling Up agenda, has allocated just under £1m for local investment in Dumfries and Galloway College by March 2025. This funding will enable the Net Zero Skills Centre to not only update our construction teaching facilities but also offer a range of courses designed to upskill workers in the region. These courses are crucial for trades and professionals who will play a vital role in helping the public transition to more sustainable homes. Our training will cover areas ranging from heat pump systems to EV charging point installation. 

Critically, we are able to offer these courses fully funded to local employers. I see this as an investment in skills for right now (as demand rockets from consumers keen to play their part in going green), and a great investment in the skills we need for the future. It is right that the Scottish Government and the UK Government support industry and employees to transition when regulation and legislation demands that changes are made to how we use energy and transport. There has to be a virtuous circle around the climate emergency of funded training, the sharing of skills and experience within industry, and investment into colleges to train the next cohort and the next and so on. 

Scotland faces a significant challenge in transitioning to low-carbon heating systems, with an estimated need for 15,500 heat pump installers to meet the target of converting at least 50% of existing housing stock to such systems by 2030. Only 278,000 of the approximately 2.5 million homes in Scotland use renewable or low-emissions heating systems, underscoring the urgent need for retrofitting activities to future-proof buildings.

These courses are essential to meet the growing demand for green skills and innovation, particularly in the construction industry. The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) estimates that around 22,500 new roles will need to be created by 2028 to achieve Scotland's net-zero goals. 

So, it seems obvious that investing in skills is essential – and the investment has to come quickly, and then be sustained for the long term. The investment from Levelling Up that our college has benefitted from may not come again in that form, but the new Labour UK Government has already made strong statements about skills even after just a couple of weeks in office. And the Scottish Government, who have removed funding from vital streams of funding like the Flexible Workforce Development Fund, may reconsider their position on critical funding streams so that Scotland is not left behind. Funding is falling for colleges in Scotland and continuing to do more with less year on year isn’t viable anymore. 

Colleges in Scotland are extremely well placed to provide training and education in emerging technologies and industries like the ones above therefore an investment in our sector would make perfect sense and adopting a “College First” approach to skills delivery will help deliver Scotland’s economic priorities, now and in the years to come.   

For more information on the courses and funding opportunities, visit www.dumgal.ac.uk/free-net-zero-training.