John Swinney visits Falkirk Campus

John Swinney visits Falkirk Campus
John Swinney visits Falkirk Campus

Forth Valley College’s Falkirk Campus was the venue for one of the first official visits by Scotland’s new Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills this week (Monday 23 May).

Education Secretary John Swinney Visit 6John Swinney – who is also Scotland’s Deputy First Minister – was welcomed by Forth Valley College Principal Dr Ken Thomson, FVC Associate Principal for Learning and Teaching, Fiona Brown and FVC Associate Principal for Business Development, Colette Filippi.

The Cabinet Secretary was then taken on a tour of the College’s state-of-the-art Engineering and Oil and Gas training workshops, as well as the impressive life sciences facilities, which were all transformed recently in a £1.2 million refurbishment.

He talked to engineering Modern Apprentices, integrated degree students from life sciences at length and was introduced to Stuart Leith a student who has worked his way through the School College Opportunities to Succeed (SCOTS) programme and progressed onto a National Certificate (NC) qualification.

Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, John Swinney, said: “Colleges are vital to Scotland’s success and the number of full-time students has grown as we have exceeded our commitment to maintain student places.

“By placing more emphasis on full-time courses that lead to employment, colleges are improving the life chances for all students, generating a well-trained, highly-skilled workforce to deliver economic growth.
 
“As a government we are committed to making Scotland’s colleges accessible places of useful learning. Today’s visit to Forth Valley College has highlighted to me the fantastic work that is going on in our colleges to deliver a modern and dynamic education, which is producing highly-skilled students, who will no doubt go on to be very successful either in further studies or in employment.”

Forth Valley College Principal Dr Ken Thomson, said:

“It was a pleasure to welcome the new Cabinet Secretary to our Falkirk Campus and an honour that we are the venue for one of his first official visits in his new role.

“This visit is also a great endorsement of our excellent recent Education Scotland report where we scored top marks in many areas and the Cabinet Secretary congratulated us on the work we are doing.

“Speaking at length to some of our Modern Apprentices, our science students and young Stuart Leith, I am sure the Cabinet Secretary left with an even greater understanding of our commitment to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects at our Falkirk campus and how our Making Learning Work ethos is helping to transform the lives of people progressing through further education and on to successful employment and careers.”