Scottish colleges need £2.5bn investment boost by 2037, report warns

Scottish colleges are publicly funded, have no borrowing options and are highly dependent on grants from the SFC.

That is in contrast to universities, which benefit from research income, international student fees and private donations.

A previous SFC report warned “insolvency remains an imminent risk” at some of the country’s colleges.

Only three are currently forecast to break even.

The combination of an extensive backlog of maintenance, Raac issues and problems with cladding are central to the issues with infrastructure.

However, many buildings also require to be modernised and that pressure combines to create the £2.5bn figure in the report.

Paul Devoy, interim chief executive of the SFC, said: “This report underlines the need for change if we are to realise our ambitions within the funding available.

“It will now provide the foundation for our work with colleges to consider realistic, affordable and sustainable options for future reform that will deliver high-quality learning environments for future generations.”

Tertiary Education Minister Alyn Smith said the Scottish government was aware a “significant transformation” was required across the college sector to guarantee its long-term future.

He said the government was working with Colleges Scotland and the SFC to create the “college sector of the future” which would aim to shape colleges for the next generation.

Smith added: “Scotland’s colleges play a vital role in our economy and wider society, and this report is a useful piece of work on the extent to which their collective estate will need significantly more funding over the next ten years unless things change.

“We are well aware that significant transformation is required across the sector to guarantee its long-term future, which is why we provided a 10% uplift in core college funding to £764m in this year’s budget.”