SERC and Forth Valley College awarded Innovation Award

Last week, South Eastern Regional College (SERC) in conjunction with Forth Valley College was awarded the Innovation Award at the College Development Network (CDN) College Awards 2018 thanks to the unique partnership formed with SERC.

The CDN work in partnership with colleges across Scotland and are supported by key partners and stakeholders by leading innovation, creating CPD opportunities and sharing best practice.

The college’s submission focussed on the unique partnership SERC have with Forth Valley College, who have the same strong commitment at the heart of their approaches to learning.

The Awards took place on Thursday 25 October 2018 at Radisson Blu, Glasgow and recognise the talent, skills and achievements of colleges, their staff and learners. They provide a valuable opportunity to celebrate the innovation taking place in colleges across the country.

The Innovation Award recognises a college that has shown leadership in innovation across the different colleges.

SERC signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Forth Valley College back in 2017 allowing the two organisations to work in partnership together.

Over the year, staff and students from seven curriculum areas (Science; Art and Design; Design and Manufacture; Electronics; Sports; Make-Up Artistry; and Early Learning and Childcare) have collaborated on meaningful and engaging projects with their counterparts in the partner college.

The project teams have communicated digitally throughout and have learned a huge amount, both from the process of digital collaboration and from the variations they discovered in the Scottish and Irish curricula.

The two colleges also held a ground-breaking joint Creative Learning Conference in August to showcase the projects and to identify a wider range of collaborative projects for session 2018-2019 including areas such as technology enhanced learning, cyber-security and internet safety, student stress and resilience and peer learning with student collaboration as well as to showcase the projects and to identify a wider range of collaborative projects for session 2018-19

Forth Valley College Principal Dr Ken Thomson said:

“We are delighted to have won this award, especially when the keynote speaker, John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Education, talked about how colleges were recognised for their innovation and invention in supporting national economic development. We are also really excited about our relationship with SERC and the opportunities and ideas that are being developed through our partnership.”

SERC Principal and Chief Executive Ken Webb said:

“This award recognises both SERC and Forth Valleys continued commitment to each of our students and sharing our best practice and expertise across many different areas. Both staff and students from both SERC and Forth Valley will undoubtedly benefit from this partnership.”