issue 3 | June 2013
We have a new name! In May 2013, the name New College Lanarkshire was decided for the College. The final decision was reached after careful consideration of all 63 name suggestions received throughout the extensive consultation process. The Merger Committee of Cumbernauld and Motherwell Colleges agreed the name for the new merged college. New College Lanarkshire will come into being on 1 November 2013. The name of the new college has been submitted to the Cabinet Secretary for approval.
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE NEW PRINCIPAL DESIGNATE It’s the post that everyone’s been talking about over the last few months and it has now been filled! The appointment of the new Principal Designate signals another important step in the journey towards establishing New College Lanarkshire. In this edition, we’re delighted to bring you an interview with Martin McGuire, former Principal of Cumbernauld College, current Principal of Motherwell College and Principal Designate for New College Lanarkshire. Martin has also recently spent over eight months as Interim Principal at Adam Smith College in Fife, having been asked by the Scottish Government to step into this post in a troubleshooting role. So, as a highly experienced Principal, Martin was happy to give The View an insight into his hopes and plans for New College Lanarkshire and to share some of the tasks he’ll be working on over the next few months to shape the New College for the future. Turn the page for the full interview.
Now that we have a new name, the next stage in the process is to develop our corporate identity and create a new brand for New College Lanarkshire. The Merger Consultation Analysis Report and the Culture and Values Study will be important in shaping the look and feel for the brand. The Merger Committee has agreed that the learners of both colleges should be given the chance to have input into the new brand. The Communications Workstream has developed a creative brief and this has been handed out to a project team of students, who are working alongside lecturers. The students have been meeting regularly and will eventually submit their ideas to the Merger Committee. Social networks have been utilised to invite all learners across both colleges to also submit any suggestions for the new brand. The recent stakeholder consultation asked ‘Do you believe it is important to retain the names Cumbernauld and Motherwell as campus names?’ A resounding 88% of respondents were in favour of keeping campus names within the new brand. This has been included within the creative brief and we will ensure that campus locations remain as part of the new identity. Due to the timing of the merger and the short timescales involved, we will unfortunately miss an opportunity to gain feedback from all staff, learners and stakeholders on the new brand. A new brand will be created without a strapline and once New College Lanarkshire is established, everyone will have an input into shaping the values that exist behind the new brand.
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE NEW PRINCIPAL DESIGNATE Q: Why did you apply for the post of Principal Designate of New College Lanarkshire? A: Having spent the majority of my FE career in
Q: What do you see as the biggest challenge for the sector and the college? A: That’s an easy one - funding will continue to be
Lanarkshire – the best part of 25 years - this was the job that I wanted. The college sector is an exciting and vibrant place in which to work and, having worked at both colleges, I have a good understanding of the culture and standards of each organisation.
the biggest challenge for both.
Q: What are your ambitions for the new college? A: There are fantastic strengths and successes in
Q: Looking forward to next year, what three words would you hope to use to sum up New College Lanarkshire? A: Aspirational, Supportive and Vibrant!
both colleges and I am certain we can build on them to create an even better college for future generations. Learner engagement is a key area and by consistently driving this forward, New College Lanarkshire will become the focus for high quality learning and teaching throughout Lanarkshire, East Dunbartonshire and the wider community. I believe that the new college can also play a major role in building on the strengths of academic excellence in Scotland and beyond.
Q: When will the new structure be announced? A: Over the coming weeks, I will be working on the proposed structure. I want to take cognisance of best practice across other regional joint campuses and would hope to go out to consultation on the new structure in August. Initially, I will work on the senior structure with the aim of having a new senior team appointed by Vesting Day.
Q: How will the change process be managed? A: Alongside the new senior team I will lead the change process. There will be a strong focus on communication, both internal and external, which is absolutely crucial in ensuring a successful merger. Although the formal consultation period has now concluded, it’s important that consultation remains an on-going feature of the merger and this will take place across staff, students and other relevant stakeholders. I appreciate that change often brings with it uncertainty and therefore I believe that the more robust communication we have, the more we will be able to dispel that uncertainty.
FACT FILE Qualifications: BSc (Hons) 1st Class MEd Management in Tertiary Education Experience: Over 25 years in the Scottish Further Education sector 11 years in a range of Senior Management roles. Education career commenced 1988 as Lecturer in Electronics Interesting Facts: Martin enjoys drumming, football and golf – not particularly good at any!
Culture and Values Study Roger Mullin, who conducted our cultural research is nearing completion of the final report, which will be published and made available to all staff shortly.
Our New Project Manager We now have a Project Manager in post to guide us through the projects involved throughout the merger process. Alan has replaced Hugh Logan, who previously held this role and will work alongside Julia Chim, our previously featured Project Co-ordinator. Alan’s areas of expertise are change management, education and economic development in lean business improvement. His lean implementation skills were developed with acknoweleged global leaders McKinsey and Co and he has applied these techniques in the challenging environment of the RBS group. Also working for the Scottish Funding Council, Alan was responsible for setting up the Joint Skills Committee with Skills Development Scotland. While at the Funding Council, he managed the Skills Utilisation Pilot projects roll-out for the council, on behalf of the Scottish Government Skills Utilisation Leadership group. Alan was the Relationship Development Manager for Skills at Scottish Enterprise and conducted the stakeholder consultation with the top 30 partner organisation to inform the creation of the SE Skills Strategy.
Merger Online Dropbox This is another way for you to ask any questions, voice any concerns or simply make a suggestion. This month, we’ve had two questions submitted to our merger dropbox. Please feel free to submit your questions or make any suggestions through the button on the staff intranet.
Q. You mentioned in the consultation report that a shortlist from the published name suggestion would be drawn up for further consultation. Why did this not happen?
A. Following the extensive pre-merger consultation and analysis, a shortlist of 6 names was drawn up from the 63 name suggestions submitted. The shortlist was further considered by the Merger Comittee, with the new name New College Lanarkshire being the preferred choice. The shortlist of names considered by the Merger Committee are below (in no particular order): 1. Lannraig College 2. New College Lanarkshire 3. New Lanark College 4. County of Lanark College 5. Lanarkshire College Scotland 6. The College of Lanarkshire
Merger Online Dropbox Continued Q. Who is on the Merger Committee? You regularly talk about decisions taken by the Merger Committee. Who actually sits on this committee?
Scottish Funding Council Pre-Merger Meeting
A. The merger committee consists of the following members:
Following the submission of the Merger Proposal Document to the Scottish Government the role of the Scottish Funding Council is to give advice to the Ministers on the feasibility of the Merger. An important part of the process is the pre-merger meeting with Board members, senior management teams, staff and students from the merging colleges.
Alex Muirhead Chair, Motherwell College (Chair of Committee) Keith Fulton Chair, Cumbernauld College. Martin McGuire Principal, Motherwell College and Principal Designate Ronnie Smith Vice-Chair, Motherwell College Margaret Cook Vice-Chair, Cumbernauld College or Alun Morgan Vice-Chair, Cumbernauld College
The purpose of this meeting is to evaluate and gather information on the proposed merger. Information gained from the meeting will help inform the advice to the Cabinet Secretary on whether the merger should proceed. This meeting took place on 23 May at Motherwell College and feedback at the closing session was very positive with SFC representatives more than satisfied that the merger is progressing well and on track for achieving its Vesting date of 1 November.
Heather Urquhart Principal (Acting) Cumbernauld College Margaret Allison Teaching staff representative, Cumbernauld College Anna Fisher Support staff representative, Cumbernauld College Kelly McGill Student representative, Cumbernauld College George Boyd Teaching staff representative, Motherwell College John Morrison Support staff representative, Motherwell College Ross Watson Student representative, Motherwell College IN-ATTENDANCE Linda McTavish Regional Lead, Lanarkshire John Kemp Director of Strategic Development, Scottish Funding Council Sharon Drysdale Outcome Agreement Manager, Scottish Funding Council Roger Mullin Scottish Government Alan Hughes Project Manager Julia Chim Project Co-ordinator, New College Lanarkshire Secretary to Committee Ann Marie Baillie
Learning and teaching in the Curriculum
As you will be aware, there are currently two workstreams with a focus on curriculum for the new merged college, those being WS2 Peri-Curriculum (shortly to be re-named to ensure more of a focus on Quality and Learning and Teaching) and WS3 Curriculum. Over the coming months it will be important for our teaching practitioners to have a much greater input to these workstreams. We will ensure that lecturing staff have an opportunity to contribute to the workstreams with regard to learning and teaching methodologies, student experience initiatives and innovative curriculum delivery strategies. It will be essential that a culture of evaluation and sharing of best practice, at all levels, is at the forefront of student experience and curriculum innovation and that we embrace creativity, flexibility and challenge – and we can’t do that without the experts!
We wish you all a happy summer!