Skills Conference - 1st October 2007

The Skills Committee of the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council (SFC), are holding a Skills Conference at the Radisson SAS Hotel, Argyle Street, Glasgow on Monday 1 October 2007.

Background

The Further and Higher Education Act (Scotland) 2005 stated that the new Council: is to have regard to the skills needs in Scotland in exercising its functions.  In order to meet this requirement the Act stated that a Skills Committee should be established. 

The remit of the Skills Committee is to support and advise the Council in its consideration of the skills needs in Scotland by:

• collecting, monitoring and evaluating the evidence on the skills needs in Scotland and the supply of and demand for further and higher education; and
• advising on how improvements in meeting skills needs can be made through the Council’s funding, regulation and support for colleges and universities.

The conference

This conference will be the first one organised by the Skills Committee and is in collaboration with Futureskills Scotland and the Skills for Business Network.  The programme will include a review of some of the key outcomes of the Committee’s work and to review progress and identify future priorities for the next year.

The speakers will include:

Fiona Hyslop – Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning

John McClelland – Chair of the Scottish Funding Council

Patrick Watt – Head of Futureskills Scotland

Dr Janet Lowe – Chair of the Skills Committee

The event will run from 9.30 am to 4.00 pm and will include a series of workshops to help the Committee to evaluate progress and plan future work. 

To book a place, please complete a registration form and return it to us (contact and address provided on the form).  Please also feel free to circulate extra copies of the registration form to colleagues who might be interested in attending. 

The registration form can be downloaded from the Scottish Funding Council Conference 2007 webpage.

If you would like further information please contact Nick Stansfeld, Projects Administrator (tel: 0131 313 6574; email: nstansfeld@sfc.ac.uk).