Not the only Campus in the Highlands

The recent focus on a site for a campus for Inverness seems to have overshadowed the success of the North Highland College UHI

In a press release entitled, "Convener Confirms Council Commitment to Caithness"

Highland Council convener, Sandy Park states:

“I was particularly pleased to learn of the £14 million which has been attracted by North Highland College UHI to create new state-of-the-art training and research facility at the Thurso campus. This will strengthen Caithness’s bid to become the hub of the global marine energy industry. I am confident this will lead to long-term benefits for jobs and economic spin-offs.”

APTSec is pleased to note this, particularly since The National Planning Framework for Scotland 1 had already contained the words:

" 172. Higher education has a key role to play in developing the knowledge economy in rural areas. The confederal UHI Millennium Institute with its constituent colleges throughout the Highlands and Islands, the Crichton University Campus in Dumfries and Heriot-Watt University's Scottish Borders Campus in Galashiels are excellent pioneering examples. While each is pursuing a different development model, all three are building new centres of expertise and creativity, providing high-level jobs, offering opportunities for people to study locally, developing international links and attracting students from around the world."

APTSec had developed concerns given that there appeared to be a change of emphasis in the latest National Planning Framework (2):

"Higher education has a key role to play in developing the knowledge economy in rural areas. TheUHI Millennium Institute with its campus at Beechwood in Inverness and constituent colleges throughout the Highlands and Islands, the Crichton University Campus in Dumfries and Heriot-Watt University’s Borders Campus in Galashiels are excellent pioneering examples. While each is pursuing a different development model, all three are building new centres of expertise and creativity, providing high-level jobs, offering opportunities for people to study locally, developing international links and attracting students from around the world."

APTSec was disappointed to see the removal of the word, 'Confederal' and apparently replaced by an explicit reference to one particular college campus - Beechwood. The paragraph also seemed to infer that this campus already existed? The Highland Council had made the following representation to the Scottish Government as part of the consultation on the latest National Planning Framework for Scotland 2:

"THE HIGHLAND COUNCIL PLANNING, ENVIRONMENT & DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE

19 MARCH 2008

NATIONAL PLANNING FRAMEWORK FOR SCOTLAND 2 - DISCUSSION DRAFT

Report by Acting Director of Planning and Development

"RECOMMENDATION That Committee approve the content of this report (including appendices 2 and 3) and agree that it be forwarded to the Scottish Government (along with any other points raised at Committee) as the response of the Council to the Discussion Draft."

Extract:

"Whilst it is acknowledged in the document that Higher education has a role to play in developing the knowledge economy in rural areas, the role of the Inverness College/UHI campus at Beechwood in Inverness to contribute to the wider economic development of the Highlands & Islands is not specifically mentioned and this is a serious omission. The Council should press for clear identification of this opportunity in the Framework, dependent as it is on the wider infrastructure improvements of Inverness. As set out in the proposed action programme, the delivery of the Beechwood Campus may be worthy of inclusion in the final document."

Returning to the £14 million for the North Highland College UHI, The UHI web site states:

"Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond said: "The Pentland Firth, Scotland's Saudia Arabia of tidal power, has been opened up for development in clean, green energy. The interest, the capacity and the opportunity in these waters is vast. Already, the Crown Estate has been approached by 42 developers to put wave and tidal test devices into the Pentland Firth."

"The Scottish Government is happy to support this £14 million investment to develop new training and research facilities at the North Highland College UHI in Thurso. It is imperative that we continue to support the development of skills, research and infrastructure to ensure we exploit Scotland's full potential in renewable energy and help, building on our strengths, to support a strong economic recovery. This project will significantly strengthen Scotland's well established reputation as the European leader in clean, green energy."

"Funders include the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), UHI, the prospective University of the Highlands and Islands; the Scottish Funding Council (SFC); the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and Highland Council."

It seems that the above noted announcements by Mr Salmond were originally made in June 2009