Scottish colleges need £2.5bn investment boost by 2037, report warns

Colleges in Scotland will need £2.5bn to meet required investment in their infrastructure over the next decade, according to a new report.

The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) estimated £1.3bn was needed to maintain the college estate to a good standard, while an additional £1.2bn would be required to fund improvements.

The College Infrastructure Investment Plan (College IIP) said the "condition, configuration and expense" of some further and higher education buildings meant they were "no longer fit for purpose".

Colleges Scotland chief executive, Gavin Donoghue, said the report laid bare the "scale of the challenge" facing the sector.

The SFC is the body which allocates public funding to higher education.

This report covers all of Scotland's 24 colleges - which are spread across 99 campuses and 270 buildings - and spans a 10-year period between 2027/28 and 2036/37.

It said about £200m of the required funding would need to be used to tackle a maintenance backlog.

But the SFC warned only dealing with the most urgent investment needs would result in further deterioration of college infrastructure.

Donoghue said investment needed in 2027/28 alone was estimated at £262m.

He said a flat cash settlement from the Scottish government's budget on 3 December would "barely allow some institutions to address their most urgent issues".

Donoghue added: "Colleges need modern, sustainable and digitally enabled learning environments if they are to continue supporting learners, employers and Scotland's ambitions for productivity, net zero and inclusive growth.

"Investing in colleges would be a key part of ensuring colleges have a firm future as civic anchors as the public sector reforms and changes in the coming years."

Scottish colleges are publicly funded, have no borrowing options and are highly dependent on grants from the SFC.

That is in contrast to universities, which benefit from research income, international student fees and private donations.

A previous SFC report warned "insolvency remains an imminent risk" at some of the country's colleges.

Only three are currently forecast to break even.

The combination of an extensive backlog of maintenance, Raac issues and problems with cladding are central to the issues with infrastructure.

However, many buildings also require to be modernised and that pressure combines to create the £2.5bn figure in the report.

Paul Devoy, interim chief executive of the SFC, said: "This report underlines the need for change if we are to realise our ambitions within the funding available.

"It will now provide the foundation for our work with colleges to consider realistic, affordable and sustainable options for future reform that will deliver high-quality learning environments for future generations."

Tertiary Education Minister Alyn Smith said the Scottish government was aware a "significant transformation" was required across the college sector to guarantee its long-term future.

He said the government was working with Colleges Scotland and the SFC to create the "college sector of the future" which would aim to shape colleges for the next generation.

Smith added: "Scotland's colleges play a vital role in our economy and wider society, and this report is a useful piece of work on the extent to which their collective estate will need significantly more funding over the next ten years unless things change.

"We are well aware that significant transformation is required across the sector to guarantee its long-term future, which is why we provided a 10% uplift in core college funding to £764m in this year's budget."