College governance
Every college in Scotland is governed by a board of management which is responsible for the planning and delivery of learning, and for value for money.
Measures to improve how colleges are managed, and to increase their accountability and effectiveness, were put in place by the Post-16 Education (Scotland) Act 2013, including:
- more students on college boards, doubled from one to two
- open and competitive board appointment processes
- regional college chairs appointed by ministers through an open, regulated process
- guidance to ensure other college board appointments are open and transparent
College Good Governance Task Group
The College Good Governance Task Group was set up in 2015 to consider what further measures could be put in place to make governance in the sector more effective.
The group, chaired by the then Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, published its recommendations in March 2016:
Good college governance consultation
In April 2017 we consulted on two of the recommendations in the good governance task group report:
- recommendation 1: better arrangements are put in place to improve board member recruitment
- recommendation 9: more sanctions are considered so that a wider range of measures is available, if necessary
We are currently analysing the responses and these will be used to guide further improvements to governance arrangements.
Guidance for colleges on good governance
We have produced guidance for college boards to help members meet their responsibilities:
This guidance:
- identifies the skills, knowledge and experience and attributes of college board members
- outlines, in general terms, the process by which appointments should be made or extended to support a robust, effective and transparent system
It has been designed to complement the Code of Good Governannce for Scotland's Colleges.
Archive content
To access information that was on the previous website see the archive of colleges content