What an incredible year it has been!
Our mission is to collaborate with colleges to cultivate their talent, showcase their exceptional work, and elevate student achievement. We hope that over the past year, you have had the opportunity to engage with us and learn from our expertise.
As we bid farewell to 2023 and welcome 2024, we would like to reflect on some of the most memorable moments of the year.
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Reach Magazine - The Magazine for Scotland's College Sector
Reach magazine released its 2023 edition, packed with stories showcasing inspirational practices and innovation.
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Pedagogy Matters Podcasts Returns
Relaunched in January, the hugely popular Pedagogy Matters Podcasts breaks down the key aspects of pedagogy and how these can be realised in current practice, whether that be online delivery, face-to-face delivery, or a mixture of both.
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#LoveScotlandsColleges Campaign Success!
Organised by the CDN Marketing and Communications Network, the week-long campaign encouraged college staff, politicians, employers, local communities and stakeholders to get involved on social media to celebrate our colleges.
#LoveScotlandsColleges achieved over 6 million impressions across the 5 day period – an increase of 27.5% on the previous campaign!
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New Pathways from Poverty Report
Leading With Empathy and Vision: An Insight Into West Lothian College
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College Expo Roadshow
We extended College Expo this year by introducing the College Expo Roadshow, which included three lively face-to-face panel sessions hosted by colleges around Scotland.
The popular Roadshows launched in March at Borders College, exploring Student Experience, followed by another roadshow in April at Forth Valley College exploring Professional Learning and at UHI Inverness in May, exploring Curriculum Design.
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Big College Open Week 27-31 March
Colleges across Scotland came together for the very first Big College Open Week aka #BigCOW.
The week-long campaign kicked off on Monday 27 March, encouraging colleges to open their doors and showcase all that the sector has to offer. The purpose of the week was to raise awareness of the benefits and pathways offered by colleges – demonstrated through a range of exciting activities at colleges through the week.
Big College Open Week is part of the #ChooseCollege collaborative national campaign.
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Professional Learning in Scotland's Colleges -
Action Research March 2023
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CDN Leadership and Governance Summit: Shaping Tertiary Education in Scotland
Titled Shaping Tertiary Education in Scotland, this year’s Summit focused on developing a coherent tertiary system in Scotland and brings together sector leaders and board members from across the tertiary landscape to discuss how the college and university sectors can shape the future of tertiary education in Scotland.
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Teaching in Colleges Today (TiCT)
An incredible 145 college candidates have successfully completed the SCQF credit-rated units. Well done everyone!
PDA Teaching Practice in Scotland's Colleges
Newly Refreshed Materials
Since launching the newly refreshed online learning materials, developed to support college candidates who are completing the SQA PDA Teaching Practice in Scotland's Colleges, 101 participants have viewed the free learning materials. The materials can be accessed now via CDN's LearnOnline.
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CDN's Leadership Programmes
In May, we launched the new cohort of CDN’s Leadership Programmes which aim to support you to lead with confidence and take the next step in your career.
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CDN Signs the Armed Forces Covenant
In May, CDN signed the Armed Forces Covenant in recognition of the contribution that Service personnel, both regular and reservist, veterans and military families make to colleges, our community and to the country. The Armed Forces Covenant is a promise from the nation to those who serve or who have served, and their families, which says we will do all we can to ensure they are treated fairly and not disadvantaged in their day-to-day lives.
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Virtual College Expo
Virtual College Expo 23 landed on a screen near you on Wednesday 21 June and Thursday 22 June with the theme, ‘Developing Practice Across Tertiary Education’.
Hundreds of delegates registered and attended this two-day virtual event which followed on from the Expo Roadshows at Borders College, Forth Valley College and UHI Inverness.
The Virtual College Expo programme offered a wide range of topics. Thanks to the hundreds of attendees, speakers and our wonderful sponsors who made the two days of Virtual College Expo such an incredible success!
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Marketing and Communications Conference
The CDN Marketing and Communications Conference took place on Thursday 8 June with over 100 Marketing and Communications professionals across Scotland’s college sector and wider tertiary landscape came together in June for their first in-person conference in four years.
A range of fantastic speakers addressed key topics identified by the CDN Marketing and Communications Network.
"This was my first CDN event and I didn’t know what to expect but I was blown away by it. Wonderful."
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New Research report: External College Governance Reviews: What Happened Next?
This study, a CDN Insight written by Candy Munro and Professor Ron Hill, followed followed up the most recent series of externally facilitated effectiveness reviews (EERs) of the governance of colleges in Scotland by asking what happened next with a sample of seven colleges.
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#Choose College shortlisted for top award
In July, the CDN Marketing and Communications Network was shortlisted for a Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) Award for the Choose College campaign 2022.
The campaign video - which features images of and voiceovers by college students - was watched by around one million adults in Scotland, a quarter of Scotland's adult population.
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Three new CDN board members
In August, we were delighted to welcome new board members - Angela Cox, Principal and Chief Executive of Ayrshire College; Stella McManus, Principal and Chief Executive of South Lanarkshire College; and Colin McMurray, Vice Principal of Business and Innovation at Forth Valley College.
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#ChooseCollege Success
Scotland's 26 colleges united once again for the latest national #ChooseCollege campaign, led by the CDN Marketing and Communications Network. From 31 July to 27 August 2023, the campaign highlighted on SkyTV, radio, and social media the significance and importance of our colleges.
Thank you to everyone who supported the campaign, inspiring prospective students to #ChooseCollege!
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Trauma-Informed College Programme
The programme utilises learning from our recent Pathways from Poverty Research and the expertise of colleagues and partners across the sector to provide training, resources and interventions that will help colleges tackle the challenges faced by learners and their communities in accessing and sustaining their participation in education.
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AI in College Education: Policy, Practice, and Productivity Event
On 22 September, we delivered a hugely successful 'AI in College Education: Policy, Practice, and Productivity' event at Forth Valley College’s Falkirk campus.
We were delighted to deliver the fully subscribed face-to-face event via live streaming - brought to you by the very talented students at Forth Valley College.
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Professor Ken Thomson OBE appointed as Interim Chair of the CDN Board
At the beginning of September, we were delighted to announce that Professor Ken Thomson OBE, recently retired Principal and Chief Executive of Forth Valley College, was appointed as Interim Chair of the Board.
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#EqualityMatters Digest
We launched a new monthly #EqualityMatters digest, to help you put equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of all you do, by signposting you to events, information and resources - starting with a focus on age inclusion.
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CDN launches new Strategy 2023-26
In October we launched our new strategy, which is is designed to drive change. It was devised and tested in collaboration with our staff, board members, college partners and stakeholders.
The strategy will see CDN embrace emerging technologies and embed pedagogical best practice; provide college staff with high quality professional learning pathways; and affirm our position as sectoral leaders and innovators in leadership development and governance.
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College graduates will boost Scotland’s economy by £52 billion
New research, commissioned by CDN and Colleges Scotland, shows the Scottish economy will be £52 billion better off cumulatively over the 40-year working life of college graduates.
The report from the Fraser of Allander Institute shows that over their working life, college graduates boost employment, increase real wages and contribute to increased trade and investment.
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College Awards 2023
The CDN College Awards took place on Thursday 30 November at Radisson Blu in Glasgow, celebrating the talent, innovation and success of our colleges, their staff and their students.
As well as presentation of 14 prestigious prizes, we enjoyed some wonderful entertainment performed by the HND Music Students from New College Lanarkshire. We are also very grateful to the students from Dundee and Angus College who provided voice-overs for the shortlist films; and students at Forth Valley College who baked delicious favours for the night.
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Annual Review 2022-23
This month, we released our Annual Review 2022-23. Discover the impact of our National Governance Programme, read first-hand insights from CDN’s participants, and learn more about how our high-impact initiatives have developed and enhanced practice across the college sector.
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Thank you for continuing to participate and support
CDN's activities.
We look forward to welcoming 2024 and working together to support you and the sector.
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CDN, Airthrey Castle, University of Stirling, FK9 4LA.
(The team is currently working from home)
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