Inverness College UHI nominated for awards thanks to pioneering initiatives

Two pioneering projects based around enterprise and sustainability have earned Inverness College UHI nominations for this year’s prestigious Scotland’s Colleges Awards.

The College is in the running for the ‘Partnership Working’ award where a college has to demonstrate partnership working with another organisation to make a difference and the ‘Public Value Award’ exhibiting where public value projects/requirements have made a positive impact upon the environment in which they operate.The Awards are  regarded as the ‘Oscars’ of the college sector.In the ‘Partnership Working’ category, the College entered CREATE, the Highland Centre for Enterprise and Innovation. The CREATE Centre was developed to inspire and support enterprise both in the classroom and through a range of regional events. By developing strong partnerships with public and private sector organisations such as Business Gateway, Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust, Highland Council,  LifeScan Scotland Ltd, Robertson, Neil Sutherland Architects, Alchemy Plus, Ankerville Nurseries, Harper Macleod LLP, Johnston Carmichael, Highland Venture Capital Ltd, Inverness Chamber and HISEZ amongst  many others, the College was able to secure guest speakers from industry, organise student events and business start-up programmes.

The CREATE Centre was conceived by Carol Langston, Head of CREATE, who is passionate about enterprise education. Carol said: “Enterprise is central to creating a more competitive, innovative and prosperous future society. Since opening in 2009, the CREATE team have identified and developed innovative working partnerships with key regional and national bodies to build on and share developing expertise in enterprise, education and business. Throughout, CREATE has endeavoured to share and disseminate this learning through and to the College network and continues to do so.”  CREATE is presently funded by the European Social Fund, Inverness College, Highland Council and Scotland’s Colleges.

Inverness College UHI’s second nomination, in the Public Value Award category, is in recognition of the College’s SEAM (Sustainable Energy And Micro-renewables) training centre. The new dedicated facility provides information, training and research in many aspects of renewable energy and sustainable construction technologies and was created with support from the Scottish Government CARES programme, Community Energy Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and an EU Northern Periphery Partnership project called SMALLEST.

Dr. Peter Dennis, Manager of the SEAM Centre, said: “Inverness College UHI was the first in Scotland to provide installer training for renewable energy with a course for solar hot water systems. Following this the College recognised a growing need for expanding the training available to cover as many other domestic scale renewable energy and sustainable construction technologies as possible, and that’s why SEAM was created.”

“The centre is a hub of renewable energy training and information and Inverness is a strategically important location for this. In addition to the focus on installers, the centre has been active in hosting seminars and workshops to help increase renewable energy knowledge for home-owners, consultants, architects and installers. Furthermore, the College is now able to offer practical renewable energy training to construction apprentices and full time students, as well as hosting visits from school groups, to ensure that future generations have been given an early introduction to the potential benefits of renewable energy, and preparing them for an expanding job market in this field.”

Now in their eleventh year, the Scotland’s Colleges Annual Awards recognise the outstanding achievements of colleges and college staff who strive to ensure that the learner experience is a positive and rewarding one. This year’s ceremony will take place on Tuesday 29^th November at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Glasgow.

John Spencer, Principal and Chief Executive of Inverness College UHI, said: “These nominations are a clear recognition of the incredible commitment and passion that currently exists at Inverness College UHI.  Staff at the College are going that extra mile to give students the best learning experience and skills development possible.  Enterprise and sustainability are key elements of our ethos at Inverness College UHI. Everyone’s hoping the enthusiasm and commitment shown by all at the College will be recognised on the night.”