CLIC college partnership wins national Beacon Award
An innovative programme involving Glasgow’s six colleges has been recognised with a top education award for strong engagement with employers - after delivering support for 800 workers across the city.
The College Local Innovation Centres (CLIC) programme, was awarded the Association of Colleges (AoC) Beacon Award for College Engagement with Employers, sponsored by City & Guilds. Glasgow Clyde College accepted the award on behalf of the CLIC programme at a ceremony in London in March.
The CLIC partnership picked up the accolade thanks to their incredible work that assessors said was “raising productivity and contributing to the regional innovation action plan”. GCC has played a role in the initiative which since launching in 2014, meeting its initial target of supporting 200 businesses in the first few months. By the end of its first year, more than 390 businesses had engaged with the programme, upskilling hundreds of staff. This success led Innovate UK to extend the project into a second year, bringing total funding £2.4m.
CLIC operates through six innovation centres, each hosted by one of the region’s colleges and aligned to their specialist strengths:
- Glasgow Kelvin College – Digital Enablement
- Glasgow Clyde College – Digital Creativity
- City of Glasgow College – Innovation Leadership
- West College Scotland – Advanced Manufacturing
- New College Lanarkshire – Digitally Enabled Health
- South Lanarkshire College – Sustainable Development
Businesses which have applied for the fund have discussed the incredible impact it has had to help them move forward.
Amongst those supported are the Talbot Association, who are the biggest provider of homeless accommodation in Glasgow, and DirectDevitt Comedy & Confidence, a business created by comedian Anna Devitt, using comedy as a tool to help students overcome barriers and improve self-belief.
Both those businesses have benefited from funding from the CLIC partnership, and have shared how it has boosted their innovation and drive, sparking creativity.
Patrick Craven,Director Public Affairs, Partnership & Engagement – City & Guilds UK said:
“City & Guilds has sponsored the Engagement with Employers Beacon Award for several years now and rarely have we come across such a fantastic example of collaboration, inclusion, innovation and impact. Collaboration as it showed what collective FE endeavour can do when there is a shared purpose and mission. Inclusion because it targeted the hard to reach SME community who so often overlooked in employer programmes – not easy to engage with but makes such a difference to the local economy. Innovation because it took the intersection of digital skills and adapted models of engagement as the driving force for the venture – neither are simple challenges to address. Finally the impact was there to see and so many outstanding stories about how the programme had made a real difference to people, places and local prosperity – it was an inspiring story to listen to and our greatest respect and congratulations go to all involved.”
John Canning, Head of Commercial and Business Services at Glasgow Clyde College, said: “The CLIC partnership has been a real success, we don’t just give businesses generic training - we ensure they receive personalised innovation support tied directly to their needs.
“In the first year alone, the programme delivered over 1,900 hours of support, created more than 100 innovation programmes, and upskilled over 800 employees across sectors as diverse as construction, health, hospitality, manufacturing, and the creative industries.
“We have seen some incredible results, with businesses now excelling in the digital sector, doing things they never thought possible.”
David Hughes, Chief Executive, Association of Colleges, said: “I want to say a huge congratulations to everyone who met the Beacon standard, and of course, to our winners.
“Thank you for your dedication and commitment to the communities you serve. I hope you enjoy the celebrations, you should be proud of the work you do and the impact you make on people's lives.”
Image shows L-R
Dugald Craig of New College Lanarkshire, Alistair McGhee of Glasgow Kelvin College and John Canning Glasgow Clyde College.