Statement | Delivering a college fit for the future

Delivering a college fit for the future, which meets the needs of its students, local communities and employers, remains the top priority for UHI North, West and Hebrides, as it takes forward its plans to become a fully integrated organisation. 

Extensive consultation has taken place with staff, both collectively through trade unions and individually with staff members, on a new operating structure, which aims to deliver on the ambitions set out in the merger business case and ensures capacity, resource, and expertise is best aligned to meet the needs of our students, local communities and employers. 

UHI has undertaken an impact assessment on our organisation design strategy, which has concluded that the proposed changes to the operating structure do not have a disproportionate effect on any island community.  

The college also has made significant progress in becoming more financially sustainable, delivering savings of £3.3 million in 2023-2024 through staff and non-staff savings. There have been no compulsory redundancies, and any staff savings have been made through vacancy management and a voluntary severance scheme, with applications coming from staff working across the North and West Highlands, Skye and Outer Hebrides. 

Lydia Rohmer, Principal and Chief Executive of UHI North, West and Hebrides, said: “Changes to our operating structure are necessary to achieve our merger ambition of creating a college which is financially sustainable and has capacity to respond to the once-in-a-generation opportunities created by the green industrial revolution in our operating area. Working with our staff, we have made significant progress towards creating a sustainable college, reducing unnecessary duplication, improving operational efficiency, and developing a new integrated curriculum offer, which increases access to learning opportunities across our rural and island communities.

Our staff are highly valued – by our board, our management team, and our students. They are key to ensuring the college’s success and realising its full potential, and we are fully committed to working in partnership with them to address any concerns and move forward with a college we can all be proud of.” 

Lydia continued: “We are just over one year into our new college. Change of this scale is not easy and we recognise the challenge it has placed on staff. Local trade unions EIS-FELA and Unison have raised a joint local dispute over our proposed operating structure, and we are making every effort to resolve it, as it continues to create uncertainty for staff, extra work and prevents some new vacancies being filled. Significant progress has been made, and we have committed to a post-implementation two-stage review of our structure at 6 and 12 months to ensure it is fit for purpose. We have been listening to staff and have instigated improvements to how we engage and collaborate with them. We have undertaken a detailed stress risk assessment and taken actions that will further support staff health and wellbeing. 

“We want to resolve this dispute as soon as possible to ensure our college can move forward, providing certainty for staff on their role in the new operating structure and delivering for our students, communities, and employers.” 

The college and university sectors in Scotland face significant financial challenges, with Audit Scotland estimating a 17 per cent cut in funding for Scotland’s colleges since 2021/22. Colleges Scotland has also called on the Scottish Government to support sustainable funding for colleges amid cuts.

Despite the challenges, UHI North, West and Hebrides maintained high student satisfaction last year, scoring 92% student satisfaction (Student Satisfaction and Engagement Survey, 2023-2024), with UHI also named best in Scotland for postgraduate student satisfaction (Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey, 2023). The college also received over 80 nominations in the annual UHI Highlands and Islands Students’ Association (HISA) Awards, recognition of our staff who have gone above and beyond to support students in their learning.