West College Scotland ( sco, West College Scotland) is a further education institution in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. It is the regional college for West Scotland and serves the populations of

Inverclyde Inverclyde ( sco, Inerclyde, gd, Inbhir Chluaidh, , "mouth of the Clyde") is one of 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Together with the East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire council areas, Inverclyde forms part of the hist ...

Renfrewshire Renfrewshire () ( sco, Renfrewshire; gd, Siorrachd Rinn Friù) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Located in the west central Lowlands, it is one of three council areas contained within the boundaries of the historic county of Re ...

and

West Dunbartonshire West Dunbartonshire ( sco, Wast Dunbairtonshire; gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann an Iar, ) is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. The area lies to the west of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's commuter to ...

and surrounding areas, as well as overseas students.

History

The college was created on 1 August 2013 from

James Watt College The James Watt College was a further education college in Greenock, Scotland. It is now part of West College Scotland. There were also campuses in Largs and Kilwinning which now form part of Ayrshire College as the result of the merger with ...

in Greenock, Reid Kerr College in Paisley and

Clydebank College Clydebank College was a further education college in Clydebank, in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It is now part of the merged institution West College Scotland. Subjects offered for full-time study included: Administration and IT; Beauty Therapy ...

in Clydebank. The former colleges became the Greenock, Paisley and Clydebank Campuses respectively. The former campuses of the James Watt College in

Largs Largs ( gd, An Leargaidh Ghallda) is a town on the Firth of Clyde in North Ayrshire, Scotland, about from Glasgow. The original name means "the slopes" (''An Leargaidh'') in Scottish Gaelic. A popular seaside resort with a pier, the town mark ...

and

Kilwinning Kilwinning (, sco, Kilwinnin; gd, Cill D’Fhinnein) is a town in North Ayrshire, Scotland. It is on the River Garnock, north of Irvine, about southwest of Glasgow. It is known as "The Crossroads of Ayrshire". Kilwinning was also a Civil Pa ...

were transferred to the new Ayrshire College at the time of the merger.

College campuses

*Clydebank Campus is located in Clydebank,

. *Greenock Campus (which includes both Finnart Street and Waterfront campuses) is located in Greenock,

. *Paisley Campus is located in Paisley, Renfrewshire.

Curriculum

The college curriculum offers courses from across a range of levels included in the

Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) is the national credit transfer system for all levels of qualifications in Scotland. Awards are classified under the framework at ''levels'', and study undertaken at that level is valued ...

, including

Highers In the Scottish secondary education system, the Higher () is one of the national school-leaving certificate exams and university entrance qualifications of the Scottish Qualifications Certificate (SQC) offered by the Scottish Qualifications ...

, NC, HNC and HND. Most courses are available on a full-time, day basis; however, some are part-time or evening, and distance learning courses are also available.

Principal

West College Scotland appointed Liz Connolly as their principal and chief executive on 3 September 2018. She had been the college's vice-principal corporate development since its formation in 2013. The very first principal and chief executive of West College Scotland was Audrey Cumberford, who was also the principal of the former Reid Kerr College.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Education in Inverclyde Further education colleges in Scotland Further education colleges in the Collab Group Educational institutions established in 2013 2013 establishments in Scotland Education in West Dunbartonshire Education in Renfrewshire Education in Paisley, Renfrewshire Clydebank Greenock