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Contact UsHeriot-Watt University and Borders College have secured a significant funding package to re-invent higher and further education in the Scottish Borders region. The package will fund co-location of both institutions at the Scottish Borders Campus in Galashiels and incorporate a new Community College in Hawick.
The first objective is to create a refurbished and new-build state-of-the-art campus that is financially sustainable for both institutions. Students of both institutions will share a number of facilities and resources. This closer partnership between further and higher education is a unique flagship development and presages a future based on collaborative learning.
WHY CO-LOCATE?
It makes sense from economic, social and environmental perspectives. Both institutions will be able to offer state-of-the-art facilities with resulting efficiencies and economies of scale. Both institutions will consolidate their positions within the Scottish Borders as education providers, employers and key economic entities. The students will benefit from an innovative linking of further and higher education channels. The campus will offer all students a fulfilling experience and a warm welcome into tertiary education. New and innovative educational programmes benefiting from increased collaboration will progressively be developed and common services will be shared.
The case for co-location is strong. On the one hand Heriot-Watt already operates a large satellite campus in Galashiels. On the other hand Borders College wishes to operate in a new facility in response to changing student needs. Both institutions see this as an opportunity to develop their educational offering, learning from each other and creating new programmes and new educational channels. At the same time, Heriot-Watt also needed to review its provision of student accommodation at the Scottish Borders Campus.
Having worked together for many years, a decision was made to study feasibility options in 2003. This culminated in approval of the business case in mid-2006, with £31.4M of funding from the Scottish Funding Council, the European Regional Development Fund, Borders College and Heriot-Watt.
CREATING THE CAMPUS
The new facilities are scheduled for completion by the end of 2008. In order to reduce the levels of disruption to students in the intervening period, building work has been divided into three main phases.
Phase 1 will focus on refurbishing of the High Mill, in which many of Heriot-Watt’s staff and students will be located. The building will house the School of Textiles and Design research and undergraduate programmes and the existing science block will also be reconfigured to house the School’s technical research teams. The School’s workshop space will also be consolidated and refurbished.
Phase 2 will involve the creation of a technology block for Borders College.
Having created key teaching and research facilities, in Phase 3 the focus will shift to refurbishment of other parts of the campus, including a shared Library and Learning Resource Centre.
BEST PRACTICE
All parties concerned in the co-location are aware of its prominence as a flagship for strategic collaboration between further and higher education. To help ensure that the experience gained through this large and complex pioneering undertaking is properly recorded and thoroughly considered, the Scottish Funding Council has commissioned a research project, parallel to the physical developments, on Best Practice in FE-HE Construction Projects. This research is being led by experts in the University's School of the Built Environment.
THE HERIOT-WATT OFFERING
The current campus houses the School of Textiles and Design and part of the School of Management and Languages.
The School of Textiles and Design is a leading centre for textiles research, innovation and education. The University’s educational provision in business and management subjects also makes an important contribution to the campus, albeit on a smaller scale. Here the University and the College have agreed the objective of progressively bringing together their teaching activities in a large framework in order to be able to develop and sustain a broader range of relevant local educational opportunities.
THE BORDERS COLLEGE OFFERING
Borders College currently operates from six sites in Galashiels, Hawick, Duns, Newtown St Boswells, Peebles and Edinburgh. It is the sole Further Education College and a major training provider in the Scottish Borders, offering a wide variety of programmes which, in the main, are designed to dovetail with local student demand and employment opportunities.
STUDENT ACCOMMODATION
Student Accomodation
A variety of options has been considered for the provision of new, upgraded University student residences, and the preferred route for procurement is through a private provider.
In the new residences all rooms will be en-suite, with full IT and telephone connections. The current target schedule is around a year for design and planning and a year to build, with completion in 2009.
WORKING TOGETHER
Signing of the partnership agreement
The commitment made to partnership in the co-location project builds on the strong relationship already established between the University and the College in the spheres of governance, management, educational and service provision. A series of joint committees and working parties has been established to address campus governance, project management, academic coherence, management structures and shared services. These groups report to a Co-ordination Committee and a Steering Committee, which in turn report to the University Court and the College Board of Management.
These relationships are enhanced by wider linkages, particularly with the public sector agencies represented in the “Borders New Ways Partnership”, other education providers and the Scottish Funding Council.
