Common use of Articulation Clause in Contracts

Articulation. We are committed to working with college partners to maximise progression from college to university and have a comprehensive set of articulation agreements with colleges across Scotland. We are committed also to retaining such entrants, and are pleased to report a retention rate of 93% for this category of student entrant. As referenced in section 4.1.3 above, we are working to develop articulation opportunities beyond those afforded by articulation agreements. The BSc (Hons) Degree in Sport Rehabilitation to be delivered with Edinburgh College and City of Glasgow College will WE are offering a NQ Access to Paramedic Science course developed in partnership with Edinburgh College provide an Associate student route to a professionally recognised award not available currently in Scotland that we are confident will provide an attractive option for students at the partner colleges. The development is part of our commitment to providing an integrated tertiary education model through collaboration with further education partners, and adds to the growing portfolio of QMU degrees delivered at college campuses across the country. We consider that this model of delivery has the potential to increase student articulation numbers, but it does require a flexible funding approach across all partners ie the university, colleges and the SFC. The NQ Access to Paramedic Science course developed in partnership with Edinburgh College welcomed its first cohort of students in September 2021. This programme offers learners a qualification that will be accepted for L1 entry, or for a relevant HN if this is required. Developing this qualification in partnership with Edinburgh College secures a more coherent learning experience, and provides opportunity for university-to-college mentoring and volunteering. We are delighted to continue to be the main HEI partner in the ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇.▇▇.▇▇ web based application (see ▇▇▇.▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇.▇▇.▇▇). We are working with Edinburgh and Fife Colleges on phase two of this exciting development, and are delighted that Skills Development Scotland (SDS) has integrated the database into ‘My World of Work’, which will significantly increase its reach and usage. Through our College Partnership Manger we will continue to contribute to the development of articulation policy and practice through membership of the SCAPP Articulation Network, the US/CS Joint Advisory Group on Articulation, and the SQA NextGen HN Project Articulation and Progression Working Group.

Articulation. Our partnership links with Universities continue to evolve, developing from traditional articulation models to integrated learner journeys, where students can seamlessly progress through Higher National college activity on to the next level within Stirling, Heriot-Watt and Strathclyde universities. In partnership with the University of Stirling, we continue to deliver four very strong partnership degree programmes in Applied Biological Sciences; Heritage and Tourism; Digital Media and Software Development with Cyber Security. Unlike traditional articulation arrangements, these are wholly integrated tertiary programmes, jointly designed, developed and delivered by the University, College and industrial partners. Students are enrolled both as students of the College and also the University from the beginning and, while they undertake their HND in College, they benefit from a wide range of enhancement activities, including workplace visits, guest lectures, visits to the University for joint lectures, seminars and practical activities. In terms of wider student life, most of the students on these programmes stay in the University Halls of Residence and participate fully in student life. Data from the University of Stirling shows that participation from students from MD40 is higher on our integrated programmes compared to other under-graduate provision, evidencing that the integrated degree programmes are widening access. We are committed also continue to working work in partnership with college Heriot Watt University on the MEng Chemical Engineering and with the University of Strathclyde’s Engineering Academy on their BEng Chemical Engineering. In addition to these Associate Student articulation arrangements, we also have around 122 formal articulation agreements, with guaranteed places, in a wide range of subject areas with University partners to maximise progression from college to university and have a comprehensive set of articulation agreements with colleges across Scotland. We are committed also working to retaining such entrantsgrow this further by progressively enhancing our work with existing HN students to raise aspirations and support articulation transition, although the year-on-year numbers are difficult to predict accurately, as they depend very much on HN students’ individual interests and circumstances. The College will continue to work with University partners to maintain existing articulation agreements and to increase the number of identified articulation routes available to learners, and are pleased will seek to report maximise the benefit of articulation agreements by timely and targeted communication of all relevant articulation opportunities to learners. Early communication of articulation opportunities will continue to be accompanied by appropriate advice and guidance to students and support through the UCAS application process. Learners will also continue to be encouraged to engage with Universities (at subject and programme level) during their HN studies, through the facilitation of visits to University campuses, participation in University hosted lectures and industry events, and bespoke activity aimed at preparing articulating students for the transition to HE. The College will deliver on its target of 88,094 Credits. This comprises 83,336 core Credits, 1,617 Credits for deferred students as a retention rate result of 93% Covid-19, and 3,141 Credits for Foundation Apprenticeships. Through this category delivery the College will prioritise the delivery of Credits to support re-training and re-skilling and to support economic recovery, maximising full time places where demand is high, and continue to prioritise school engagement with senior phase school pupils. The College is committed to delivering 2,493 Credits as part of the SFC led ‘Developing Scotland’s Workforce’ European Social Fund strategic intervention, focusing on higher level skills to meet regional and national skills needs in the growth sectors of Early Years and Childcare, Hospitality and STEM. Through our last Evaluation Report and Enhancement Plan (EREP) we identified an action to enhance tracking and monitoring of student entrantprogress during the academic year, focusing on full time students. As referenced such, two processes were developed and introduced during Academic Session 2018-19. The first development is that alongside recording student attendance, staff are also asked to comment on whether a student is progressing satisfactorily or not on their course, providing a brief description if a student is progressing satisfactorily. Real time reports are available to curriculum managers, with alert prompts sent where a student has been highlighted as not progressing satisfactorily. The second development has been in-year tracking centrally of predicted performance of every full time student. These predictions have been undertaken three times during the session, and will be compared with year end outcomes. This has allowed real time reporting on our full time PIs at Department, Course and Student level, with the purpose of providing focus to where additional support may be required to help students succeed. Another key action from our EREP was to develop and introduce a streamlined student support system. Our Student Support System (Triple S) was piloted in section 4.1.3 aboveSession 2018-19 and Session 2019-20 saw the system rolled out across all areas. Triple S is a system designed to allow the capturing of all support being provided to a student in one place, and to allow staff to access this information in an easy and timeous manner. The Key aims of this system are to streamline the existing support infrastructure available to students, and to make this vital information more accessible to all relevant staff. The College has processes in place to capture various support needs of our students, however because of the disparate nature of the services provided, and also because these processes are predominantly paper based, students could be asked to disclose information multiple times, as they access different functions of the support service. With the introduction of Triple S, information disclosed from students will be captured once within the central system. As Triple S captures this information centrally, it offers the opportunity to present this information back in a very accessible way to staff, which will help ensure that all staff who are in contact with a student are aware of any support needs and ongoing concerns and issues. This information will be available real-time, with icons developed and integrated with other systems, such as Enquirer for attendance and results recording, to quickly signpost to staff that a student has support needs, and provide quick and easy access to this information, to help ensure that our students are effectively supported. As part of the College’s PI Prediction Tracking tool there is an emphasis on identifying and monitoring students who are from the 10% most deprived postcode areas, are Care Experienced, or who have interacted with the College’s Student Support System. The success of Triple S has been built upon in subsequent sessions, with navigation improved and functionality added, and it is now a key College system, with full adoption across all areas. Through staff engagement combined with the use of these tools, we are working aiming to develop articulation opportunities beyond those afforded by articulation agreementsmaintain our very high attainment rates for part time students, and continue to increase our full time FE and HE attainment rates through Session 2021-22. In Session 2020-21 the College launched Project NxGEN FVC to enhance learning and the student experience at the College with bold aims of being a leading Education 4.0 organisation; having a Digital First culture; being financially resilient; being sector leading on e-assessment and validation design against all programmes; and designing and transforming our curriculum using evidence-based analytics. The BSc (Hons) Degree in Sport Rehabilitation to be delivered with Edinburgh College and City of Glasgow College will WE are offering a NQ Access to Paramedic Science course developed in partnership with Edinburgh College provide an Associate student route to a professionally recognised award not available currently in Scotland that we are confident will provide an attractive option for students at the partner colleges. The development is part of our commitment to providing project has 5 key strands: To ensure an integrated tertiary education model through collaboration with further education partnerswhole system approach, where the learner journey is mapped out, duplication removed, and adds a digital first culture adopted; Transformational curriculum, with a full curriculum review aligned to the growing portfolio of QMU degrees delivered Education 4.0; Inclusion and Student Support, with more targeted ASN and pastoral support aimed at improving retention and attainments; Continuous Curriculum Improvement, where college campuses across the country. We consider that this model of delivery has the potential to increase student articulation numbers, but it does require designed Course Review and PI Tracker tools help managers ensure a flexible funding approach across all partners ie the university, colleges healthy and the SFC. The NQ Access to Paramedic Science course developed in partnership with Edinburgh College welcomed its first cohort of students in September 2021. This programme offers learners a qualification that will be accepted for L1 entry, or for a relevant HN if this is required. Developing this qualification in partnership with Edinburgh College secures a more coherent learning experience, and provides opportunity for university-to-college mentoring and volunteering. We are delighted to continue to be the main HEI partner in the ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇.▇▇.▇▇ web based application (see ▇▇▇.▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇.▇▇.▇▇). We are working with Edinburgh and Fife Colleges on phase two of this exciting development, and are delighted that Skills Development Scotland (SDS) has integrated the database into ‘My World of Work’, which will significantly increase its reach and usage. Through our College Partnership Manger we will continue to contribute to the development of articulation policy and practice through membership of the SCAPP Articulation Network, the US/CS Joint Advisory Group on Articulationfinancially resilient curriculum, and the SQA NextGen HN Project Articulation Learning and Progression Working GroupDigital Skills Academy.

Articulation. Our partnership links with Higher Education continue to evolve, developing from traditional articulation models to integrated learner journeys, where students can seamlessly progress through Higher National college activity on to the next level within Stirling, Heriot-Watt and Strathclyde universities. In 2015-16, in partnership with the University of Stirling, we delivered four very strong integrated degree programmes in Applied Biological Sciences; Heritage and Conservation Management; Digital Media and Computing Science. Unlike traditional articulation arrangements, these are wholly integrated tertiary programmes, jointly designed, developed and delivered by the University, College and industrial partners. Students are Associate Students of the relevant University from the beginning and, while they undertake their HND in college, they benefit from a wide range of enhancement activities, including workplace visits, guest lectures, visits to the University for joint lectures, seminars and practical activities. In terms of wider student life, most of the students on these programmes stay in the University Halls of Residence and participate fully in student life. Data from the University of Stirling shows that participation from students from MD40 is higher on our integrated programmes compared to other under-graduate provision, evidencing that the integrated degree programmes are widening access. We are committed also continue to working work in partnership with college Heriot Watt University on the MEng Chemical Engineering and with the University of Strathclyde’s Engineering Academy on their BEng Chemical Engineering. The above provision will lead to an expected 103 successful students achieving HNC/D qualifications in June 2017 and “articulating” with advanced standing to degree courses at our partner institutions in 2016-17. In addition to these Associate Student articulation arrangements, we also have around 40 formal articulation agreements, with guaranteed places, in a wide range of subject areas with University partners to maximise progression from college to university and have a comprehensive set of articulation agreements with colleges across Scotland. We are committed also These lead, on average, to retaining around 100 individual students articulating with advanced standing each year in subjects such entrantsas Accounting, Business, Sport and are pleased to report a retention rate of 93% for this category of student entrant. As referenced in section 4.1.3 above, we are working to develop articulation opportunities beyond those afforded by articulation agreements. The BSc (Hons) Degree in Sport Rehabilitation to be delivered with Edinburgh College and City of Glasgow College will WE are offering a NQ Access to Paramedic Science course developed in partnership with Edinburgh College provide an Associate student route to a professionally recognised award not available currently in Scotland that we are confident will provide an attractive option for students at the partner colleges. The development is part of our commitment to providing an integrated tertiary education model through collaboration with further education partners, and adds to the growing portfolio of QMU degrees delivered at college campuses across the country. We consider that this model of delivery has the potential to increase student articulation numbers, but it does require a flexible funding approach across all partners ie the university, colleges and the SFC. The NQ Access to Paramedic Science course developed in partnership with Edinburgh College welcomed its first cohort of students in September 2021. This programme offers learners a qualification that will be accepted for L1 entry, or for a relevant HN if this is required. Developing this qualification in partnership with Edinburgh College secures a more coherent learning experience, and provides opportunity for university-to-college mentoring and volunteering. We are delighted to continue to be the main HEI partner in the ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇.▇▇.▇▇ web based application (see ▇▇▇.▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇.▇▇.▇▇)Tourism. We are working to grow this further by progressively enhancing our work with Edinburgh existing HN students to raise aspirations and Fife Colleges support articulation transition, although the year-on-year numbers are difficult to predict accurately, as they depend very much on phase two HN students’ individual interests and circumstances. In 2016-17 the College will work with HEI Partners to maintain existing articulation agreements and to increase the number of this exciting developmentidentified articulation routes available to learners, and are delighted will seek to maximise the benefit of articulation agreements by timely and targeted communication of all relevant articulation opportunities to learners. Early communication of articulation opportunities will be accompanied by appropriate advice and guidance to students and support through the UCAS application process. Learners will also be encouraged to engage with HEIs (at subject and programme level) during their HN studies, through the facilitation of visits to University campuses, participation in University hosted lectures and industry events, and bespoke activity aimed at preparing articulating students for the transition to HE. The College successfully attained STEM Assured status in 2013 and was the first College in Scotland to be STEM accredited by NEF: The Innovation Institute (NEF), and were re-accredited last session. NEF influence the inter-relationship between education, business and government, through research and collaborative networks to prepare for an innovative and creative sci-tech workforce. STEM Assured is used by education and training providers as a key differentiator to demonstrate their capability in delivering STEM provision that meets the needs of business and industry. Following a framework covering strategy, engagement, delivery, innovation and impact, it ensures a provider’s vocational STEM offer meets the needs of learners and employers. STEM Assured is an outcomes-based standard developed to recognise high quality cross-curricular science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) education and delivery. It is unique in the education sector and achievement of the standard emphasises exceptional strengths and capabilities, helping providers enhance engagement and success with learners and employers. The Standard offers an assurance process that builds upon existing standards and quality marks an institution may have achieved. Acknowledged by the government (Department of Business, Innovation and Skills), the National Apprenticeship Service and the UK Commission on Employment and Skills Development Scotland (SDS) UKCES), STEM Assured is the ONLY Standard that assures vocational STEM provision. The College was successfully re-accredited with STEM Assured status last session, with the award panel commending the following examples of good practice: • The college is guided by strong management that has integrated clear and ambitious plans for the database into ‘My World development of Work’, which will significantly increase STEM provision using new and innovative approaches. • The college has good engagement with employers and its reach responsiveness to the regional skills needs of industry. • Significant investment in facilities demonstrates commitment and usage. Through our College Partnership Manger we will continue to contribute a strategic approach to the development of articulation policy its STEM provision. For Session 2017-18 and practice through membership of the SCAPP Articulation Networkbeyond, the US/CS Joint Advisory Group on Articulationcollege has set a target of delivering 30,000 Credits within STEM (as defined by SFC), and the SQA NextGen HN Project Articulation and Progression Working Groupwhich equates to 35% of our overall Credit target.

Articulation. We are committed Our Outcome Agreement for 2013/14 included a number of examples of best practice in relation to working with college partners to maximise progression from college supporting articulating students during their transition to university and throughout their time here. Such initiatives have been embedded in our practice, through the work of the Schools and Colleges Engagement and Transition Team and our Mentoring and Peer Support programme, MAPS@GCU. Their success is being reflected in the number of students taking the opportunity to articulate onto GCU programmes. Our recruitment figures for 2013/14 show a comprehensive set strong improvement on previous years and we are well in excess of the target of 670 articulating students agreed with Scottish Funding Council. This performance has been helped by innovative developments, including being the first Univeristy to offer advanced entry to level 2 of our Nursing programmes and level 3 of our Psychology programmes. These established foundations have been recognised by Scottish Funding Council through the award of 157 additional articulation agreements places, equivalent to approximately 25 per cent of our 2012/13 articulating numbers. These places have been made available in programmes across all three GCU Schools in Business, Social Sciences and Media, Built Environment, Engineering, Computing and Life Sciences. The Greater Glasgow Articulation Partnership (GGAP), based at GCU, is coordinating the scheme for the University and the close relationships with the new regional colleges are helping to bring the scheme to successful fruition. GGAP also plays a central role in promoting articulation throughout the University and in partner colleges, through the development and communication of effective practices. Demonstrating a broad range of best practice, and embedding the notion of collaborative working across HE and FE partners, GGAP delivered an event to share best practice and lessons learned from the Partnership‟s first five years. Much of this best practice and experience has been captured in the exciting new College Connect Strategy, developed to help support college students who wish to continue their studies to degree level. The cornerstone of the strategy is the College Connect Academy, providing students with information about potential degree programmes and life at GCU. Students participating in the Academy will have the opportunity to take part in a varied programme of activities before coming to GCU, as well as access to a range of academic, social and career development opportunities. These include: membership of the College Connect Associate Student Scheme; access to online books and journals; College Connect master classes on the GCU campus; access to GCU‟s virtual learning environment; and discounted rates at our sports facilities. The College Connect Strategy builds explicitly on existing partnerships to support the development of an effective infrastructure for articulation. Our focus will be on the establishment of strategic partnerships with colleges across Scotlandand regional boards, using the successful relationship with City of Glasgow College – outlined in the case study below– as a template. We are committed also to retaining such entrantsThese partnerships will undertake joint planning, curriculum development and are pleased to report a retention rate of 93% for this category of student entrantstaff development activities. As referenced in section 4.1.3 above, we are working to develop articulation opportunities beyond those afforded by articulation agreements. The BSc (Hons) Degree in Sport Rehabilitation to be delivered with Edinburgh College GCU and City of Glasgow College signed a Memorandum of Understanding in February 2012 to establish a Strategic Partnership Agreement, building on a long and successful history of collaboration between the two institutions. The Strategic Partnership Agreement is an important response politically and strategically to Scottish Funding Council plans for a regional focus towards post-16 education provision between the college and university sectors, and forms a key strand of GGAP‟s work in creating and maintaining a sustainable infrastructure for articulation. The partnership includes agreements to work towards effective collaborative planning, development and enhancement of articulation pathways, and to secure mechanisms to ensure successful student transition, progression and completion. Collaboration and planned working activity between individual functions in both institutions have enabled improved communication and increased integration of activity across support and academic functions. A key objective for the partnership is to establish guaranteed articulation places with a view to increasing substantially the number of students articulating between the two institutions by 2015. Significant activity during 2012, building on existing and new articulation routes and supported by effective promotion and support activities by SCETT, has seen the number of articulating students from the college increase from 25 per cent of the total articulating population in previous years to 45 per cent in 2012/13. Successful learner journeys – for all our students – remain a key priority for us and we will WE aim to at least maintain these levels, bringing measures for every protected characteristic grouping closer to the overall University performance. Institutional research into two related areas – students exiting with ordinary degrees and flexible learning pathways – is being used to inform activities to support the student journey. The Learning Development Centres, within each of our Schools, also focus on supporting students throughout their studies. Further work is underway to evaluate the impact the Centres are offering having for students from each of the protected characteristic groupings. This early work is already being recognised as an example of good practice, with the team from the School of Health and Life Sciences recently invited to present a NQ Access to Paramedic Science course developed in partnership with Edinburgh College provide an Associate student route to a professionally recognised award not available currently in Scotland that poster at the Enhancement Themes 10-year celebration at Holyrood. To increase the number of students who can benefit from international experiences, we are confident will provide an attractive option for students at developing a number of initiatives, including:  Overcoming the partner colleges. The development is part of our commitment real and perceived barriers to providing an integrated tertiary education model through collaboration with further education partnersstudent mobility by building student confidence, assisting in resolving financial challenges and adds to the growing portfolio of QMU degrees delivered at college campuses across the country. We consider that this model of delivery has the potential to increase student articulation numbers, but it does require a flexible funding approach across all partners ie the university, colleges and the SFC. The NQ Access to Paramedic Science course developed in partnership with Edinburgh College welcomed its first cohort of students in September 2021. This programme offers learners a qualification that will be accepted for L1 entry, or for a relevant HN if this is required. Developing this qualification in partnership with Edinburgh College secures a more coherent learning experience, and provides opportunity for university-to-college mentoring and volunteering. We are delighted to continue to be the main HEI partner in the ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇.▇▇.▇▇ web based application (see ▇▇▇.▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇.▇▇.▇▇). We are working with Edinburgh and Fife Colleges on phase two of this exciting development, and are delighted that Skills Development Scotland (SDS) has integrated the database into ‘My World of Work’, which will significantly increase its reach and usage. Through our College Partnership Manger we will continue to contribute to encouraging the development of articulation policy and practice through membership of the SCAPP Articulation Network, the US/CS Joint Advisory Group on Articulation, and the SQA NextGen HN Project Articulation and Progression Working Grouplanguage skills.

Articulation. Our partnership links with Universities continue to evolve, developing from traditional articulation models to integrated learner journeys, where students can seamlessly progress through Higher National college activity on to the next level within Stirling, Heriot-Watt and Strathclyde universities. In partnership with the University of Stirling, we continue to deliver four very strong integrated degree programmes in Applied Biological Sciences; Heritage and Tourism; Digital Media and Computing Science. Unlike traditional articulation arrangements, these are wholly integrated tertiary programmes, jointly designed, developed and delivered by the University, College and industrial partners. Students are Associate Students of the relevant University from the beginning and, while they undertake their HND in College, they benefit from a wide range of enhancement activities, including workplace visits, guest lectures, visits to the University for joint lectures, seminars and practical activities. In terms of wider student life, most of the students on these programmes stay in the University Halls of Residence and participate fully in student life. Data from the University of Stirling shows that participation from students from MD40 is higher on our integrated programmes compared to other under-graduate provision, evidencing that the integrated degree programmes are widening access. We are committed also continue to working work in partnership with college Heriot Watt University on the MEng Chemical Engineering and with the University of Strathclyde’s Engineering Academy on their BEng Chemical Engineering. In addition to these Associate Student articulation arrangements, we also have around 122 formal articulation agreements, with guaranteed places, in a wide range of subject areas with University partners to maximise progression from college to university and have a comprehensive set of articulation agreements with colleges across Scotland. We are committed also working to retaining such entrantsgrow this further by progressively enhancing our work with existing HN students to raise aspirations and support articulation transition, although the year-on-year numbers are difficult to predict accurately, as they depend very much on HN students’ individual interests and circumstances. The College will continue to work with University partners to maintain existing articulation agreements and to increase the number of identified articulation routes available to learners, and are pleased will seek to report a retention rate maximise the benefit of 93% for this category articulation agreements by timely and targeted communication of student entrant. As referenced in section 4.1.3 above, we are working to develop all relevant articulation opportunities beyond those afforded by to learners. Early communication of articulation agreements. The BSc (Hons) Degree in Sport Rehabilitation to be delivered with Edinburgh College and City of Glasgow College opportunities will WE are offering a NQ Access to Paramedic Science course developed in partnership with Edinburgh College provide an Associate student route to a professionally recognised award not available currently in Scotland that we are confident will provide an attractive option for students at the partner colleges. The development is part of our commitment to providing an integrated tertiary education model through collaboration with further education partners, and adds to the growing portfolio of QMU degrees delivered at college campuses across the country. We consider that this model of delivery has the potential to increase student articulation numbers, but it does require a flexible funding approach across all partners ie the university, colleges and the SFC. The NQ Access to Paramedic Science course developed in partnership with Edinburgh College welcomed its first cohort of students in September 2021. This programme offers learners a qualification that will be accepted for L1 entry, or for a relevant HN if this is required. Developing this qualification in partnership with Edinburgh College secures a more coherent learning experience, and provides opportunity for university-to-college mentoring and volunteering. We are delighted to continue to be accompanied by appropriate advice and guidance to students and support through the main HEI partner UCAS application process. Learners will also continue to be encouraged to engage with Universities (at subject and programme level) during their HN studies, through the facilitation of visits to University campuses, participation in the ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇.▇▇.▇▇ web based application (see ▇▇▇.▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇.▇▇.▇▇). We are working with Edinburgh University hosted lectures and Fife Colleges on phase two of this exciting developmentindustry events, and are delighted that Skills Development Scotland (SDS) has integrated bespoke activity aimed at preparing articulating students for the database into ‘My World of Work’, which will significantly increase its reach and usage. Through our College Partnership Manger we will continue transition to contribute to the development of articulation policy and practice through membership of the SCAPP Articulation Network, the US/CS Joint Advisory Group on Articulation, and the SQA NextGen HN Project Articulation and Progression Working GroupHE.

Articulation. We are UWS continues to be the lead university in Scotland for articulating students from other institutions. The university has established formal partnership agreements with eight local partner colleges, and students from up to ten additional colleges articulate into our courses each year at either Level 8 or Level 9. In 2015/16, 1,238 students (61.7 per cent) articulated into UWS courses with advanced standing. In 2014/15, UWS articulated over a quarter of the total articulation with advanced standing numbers for the whole of Scotland.8 UWS has committed to working articulate at least 1,200 Scottish domiciled students from colleges with advanced standing in 2017/18. To date, around 1,900 students have progressed from college partners to UWS in 2016/17. Of these, around 1,140 have articulated with advanced standing. The 200 additional funded places have been delivered and the shortfall is therefore in the standard articulation places. Student numbers on certain courses in Colleges have reduced and so the potential pool of applicants from which all universities have been trying to recruit additional students has also been reduced. The University has made considerable efforts to ensure the transition of students from the Colleges and some specific issues have been experienced in meeting entry standards for particular courses. These areas have been adjusted for 2017/18 and additional agreements have been put in place to use the ‘academy’ model in some areas to ensure progression at an appropriate skill level. With the end of specific funding for articulation hubs, we have embedded and made permanent our two College Engagement Partner posts, to ensure that we continue to provide high-quality support and guidance for transition and maintain our strong relationships with College partners. This represents a significant investment in supporting articulation and ensuring that expertise in this area continues to be at the core of our provision. · Maximising progression Articulating students have been and will remain central to UWS provision. UWS maintains a range of courses that focus on entry at Level 9 and are aimed specifically at articulating students and deliver some of our degrees on a franchise basis within Colleges in order to maximise progression from college College to university and have a comprehensive set of articulation agreements with colleges across Scotland. We are committed also to retaining such entrants, and are pleased to report a retention rate of 93% for this category of student entrant. As referenced in section 4.1.3 above, we are working to develop articulation opportunities beyond those afforded by articulation agreements. The BSc (Hons) Degree in Sport Rehabilitation to be delivered with Edinburgh College and City of Glasgow College will WE are offering a NQ Access to Paramedic Science course developed in partnership with Edinburgh College provide an Associate student route to a professionally recognised award not available currently in Scotland that we are confident will provide an attractive option for students at the partner colleges. The development is part of our commitment to providing an integrated tertiary education model through collaboration with further education partners, and adds to the growing portfolio of QMU degrees delivered at college campuses across the country. We consider that this model of delivery has the potential to increase student articulation numbers, but it does require a flexible funding approach across all partners ie the university, colleges and the SFC. The NQ Access to Paramedic Science course developed in partnership with Edinburgh College welcomed its first cohort of students in September 2021University. This programme offers learners a qualification that will be accepted for L1 entry, or for a relevant HN if this activity is required. Developing this qualification in partnership currently being expanded with Edinburgh College secures a more coherent learning experience, new franchise arrangements at Dumfries and provides opportunity for university-to-college mentoring and volunteering. We are delighted to continue to be the main HEI partner in the ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ College, Ayrshire College and New College Lanarkshire being planned for 2017/18. Our formal College Partnership Agreements feature agreed learner pathways reviewed on an annual basis. In addition, we have introduced formal articulation agreements for specific 8▇▇▇▇://▇▇▇.▇▇▇.▇▇.▇▇/web/FILES/Funding_Outcome_Agreements_2016- areas to ensure progression for particular subjects. These include social work and computing pathways from Dumfries and ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ web based College and our innovative Performance Academy approach which provides an agreed pathway for students from Ayrshire College, ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇▇ College and Fife College into performance and technical theatre courses delivered through our unique Learning Theatre partnership with Ayr Gaiety Theatre. Our College Engagement Partners actively seek new articulation routes to ensure that opportunities for progression are maximised. In 2015/16 this included the development of an innovative progression route from the HND in Complimentary Therapy at New College Lanarkshire into our BSc Professional Health Studies. In 2016/17 we reintroduced our separate ‘College to Uni’ prospectus, providing detailed information on articulation routes for each individual College, ensuring that College students have all the information they need to make informed choices. We have also obtained support from our College partners for enhanced promotion of articulation routes through on-campus publicity as well as maintaining the support activities detailed below. Maximising progression from College to University remains at the core of our delivery, and the baseline commitment to 1,000 places per year is more than achievable in the current climate. · Additional funded places UWS receives 200 additional funded places each year, the largest allocation to any university in Scotland. These places allow the university to increase our widening access activities and to articulate more students than would otherwise be the case. We distribute the places among our partner colleges, and allocate them to courses where traditionally there has been significant articulation activity. UWS takes care to ensure that students identified for additional funded places are treated similarly to other students, and that all students in our partner colleges are aware and able to take advantage of the learner pathways into UWS courses. SFC will continue to fund additional articulation places in 2017/18 which will help UWS to achieve its target to recruit at least 1,200 articulating students in that year. If the funding is subsequently discontinued, the University will consider the feasibility of continuing to offer an additional 200 places (without funding) to College students and discuss with SFC in the context of our overall student numbers. · Associate Student Scheme The UWS Associate Student Scheme is offered to all students studying on a course that is part of a UWS learner pathway to sign up. We have not linked it to the additional funded places and will continue to offer it beyond the end of that scheme. In 2015/16, over 1,000 students signed up to the scheme, and in 2016/17 this figure is expected to increase further. The Associate Student Scheme allows students to access a range of UWS facilities, including the university library, sporting facilities, student unions, and the computer network and virtual learning environment. Students also have access to information and guidance on moving on to a degree programme at UWS, and receive academic support to help smooth the transition from HN to degree-level study. This may take the form of in-college workshops with UWS staff or visits to a UWS campus. · Transition Support UWS builds relationships with colleges to allow them to promote articulation routes to higher education in their recruitment. This allows students to begin planning their learner journey from entry to college. UWS College Engagement Partners offer an induction module to students on courses that are part of the UWS learner pathways. This includes an initial visit to first year HNC/D students. We promote the opportunity to progress to UWS on successful completion of their HND as well as giving them access to the Associate Student scheme to help them make an informed decision. For HND groups, the College Engagement Partners provide advice and information on specific subjects, funding and decision-making processes. They also hold workshops on UCAS information and generic study skills, and offer subject-specific support in line with what the colleges feel is most beneficial for their groups. This is offered to the whole cohort to avoid disadvantaging any student and to maximise the potential for students to articulate onto our courses. Once at UWS, Student Enhancement Development Officers continue to support direct entry students to smooth their transition to the degree course. Ongoing support is then provided to assist students completing to Honours in line with the university’s strategic objective that an Honours qualification should be the norm for all our students. · Subject-specific support UWS’ College Engagement Partners have introduced Subject Liaison Groups over the past year and these continue to expand. These groups bring together academic staff from all our Partner Colleges and the University together with the Student Voice and support staff to share information about course content, entry requirements and future developments in support of greater collaboration between the institutions and the delivery of the College partnership agreements. These groups have been successful and generated positive feedback. They will be extended over the coming years to cover all the main subject areas. The University has for many years delivered the ‘Next Steps at University’ bridging module across a wide range of subject areas and formats including in-college delivery, summer school delivery and on-campus delivery. This module is contextualised for different subject areas and is a requirement where a college course does not meet the full amount of credit for direct entry to a university course. In that context the Next Steps module ensures that no college student misses the opportunity to progress on their learner pathway as a result of a shortfall in credit, maintaining the UWS commitment to maximising opportunities for progression. · Support for Care Leavers UWS continues to develop and implement care leaver activity and support and has increased the number of care leavers enrolled in the Institution. There has been a steady increase in applications, offers and enrolments since 2008. 300 250 200 150 100 50 No. of Applicants No. of Applications No of Enrolments 0 2016/17 figures may increase in Trimesters 2 and 3 UWS has a comprehensive package of support in place for care leavers from pre-entry until two years after graduation. UWS continues to work closely in partnership with the Centre for Excellence for Looked After Children in Scotland (CELCIS) and other universities and colleges through the West of Scotland Care Leavers Forum. The Forum came together with colleagues from the East Forum in June 2016 for a seminar on Corporate Parenting Reporting, and meets at least once a year working towards a common national framework to share good practice and address the barriers to learning that Care Leavers encounter in Scotland. UWS identifies most Care Leavers at the application stage, at which point the University contacts them to discuss what transition support we can provide. UWS has established procedures in place with local schools, Activity 16+ Co-ordinators, relevant colleagues within local authorities and the Scottish Throughcare and Aftercare Forum to provide support so that pupils who are considering going to university can receive information, advice and guidance to make informed choices regarding their education. A meeting with the young person and their teacher or Throughcare Support Worker is encouraged to ascertain the level of pre-entry support needed and to provide an opportunity for them to meet with the Senior Widening Participation Development Officer and any other relevant colleagues from services within the university in order to make a successful transition from school, college or the community. Contact with the Senior Widening Participation Development Officer is ongoing throughout their studies to ensure that support can be provided quickly if there are any indications that the student is having problems. The Senior Widening Participation Development Officer works in partnership internally with colleagues from the Funding and Advice Team, Disability Support Services, Accommodation, Counselling Services, Careers Service and Academics, Education Guidance Advisors and Student Enhancement Developers within the University to provide pre-entry and ongoing support for Care Leavers and externally with Throughcare and Aftercare Workers to provide appropriate support. UWS’ Senior Widening Participation Development Officer was part of the Steering Group for the Who Cares? Trust’s new website (see ‘Propel’) which replaced the HE Handbook and provides information on all aspects of going to HE for Care Leavers.9 UWS also works closely with Who Cares? Scotland to provide support for Care Leavers and created the 9 ▇▇▇.▇▇▇▇▇▇.▇▇▇.▇▇ Care’s Got Talent show for National Care Leavers Week in October 2016. This successful talent show brought Care Leavers from the Isle of ▇▇▇▇▇, Dundee, Fife, Glasgow and Renfrewshire and was attended by staff from UWS, Renfrewshire Council and families and friends of the young people. We also work with the Scottish Throughcare and Aftercare Forum and provide information, guidance and advice to members of these organisations to promote the support available to care experienced young people thinking of going to university. UWS also advises and provides case studies to Supporting Professionalism in Admissions (SPA) highlighting good practice in supporting Care Leavers with the admissions process in Higher Education. UWS is a committed ‘Corporate Parent’ and continues to work with local authorities to help create and contribute to their action plans to support Care Leavers. We are also working with Who Cares? Scotland who are currently providing updated Corporate Parenting Reporting training for staff in order to provide guidance for the UWS Corporate Parenting Report. The University is committed to working with our Community Planning partners as a Corporate Parent to help them provide support and help to increase the number of Care Leavers going to university. · MCR Pathways Along with the University of Glasgow, the University of Strathclyde and Glasgow Caledonian University, the Royal Conservatoire for Scotland and Glasgow School of Art, UWS works in partnership with the MCR Foundation providing an extended programme of provision, including intergenerational mentoring, residential summer programmes and access to a wide variety of widening access initiatives, designed to improve the educational outcomes and rates of progression to Higher Education for Looked after Young People and Care Leavers. This programme has been to 15 secondary schools in the Glasgow area. Information on the support available for Care Leavers in Higher Education is provided through a leaflet funded by Focus West and disseminated by the Senior Widening Participation Development Officer to Local Authorities, Scottish Throughcare and Aftercare Forum and other relevant organisations. By working with our College Engagement Advisors, we also support articulating students who are care experienced with their transition from college to Higher Education. · Support for Carers and Young Carers It is estimated that around 788,000 individuals are caring for a relative, friend or neighbour in Scotland. This includes around 44,000 people under the age of 18. The definition of a young carer is “a child or young person aged under 18 who has a significant role in looking after someone else who is experiencing illness or disability” that would normally be expected of an adult. For Young Carers, this makes them more at risk of not having a successful transition and/or a positive destination on leaving school. At UWS, we are developing our support for Carers and Young Carers thinking about coming to university from local authority areas around our campuses through working in partnership with Carer’s Centres; the Young Carers Trust; Unity Enterprise and other relevant organisations to identify Carers and Young Carers so that we can provide information, guidance and support. We offer pre-entry support to help with the transition to university- level study and also provide ongoing support through the Widening Participation Coordinator and relevant colleagues in Student Services to help students who are Carers have a positive experience at UWS.10 10 Further information is available at ▇▇▇.▇▇▇.▇▇.▇▇)/▇▇▇▇▇▇ · Support for Estranged Students UWS has recently engaged with the Stand Alone initiative which supports those students who have lost contact with their families. We are Support for this group is being developed and implemented and will be available following a similar framework to that of Care leavers. The Senior Widening Participation Development Officer is working in partnership with Edinburgh and Fife Colleges on phase two the SAUWS Caseworkers to target this group. In 2015/16, 66.2 per cent of this exciting developmentScottish domiciled undergraduate entrants were female, and are delighted that Skills Development Scotland (SDS) has integrated the database into ‘My World of Work’, which will significantly increase its reach and usage. Through our College Partnership Manger we will continue to contribute to the development of articulation policy and practice through membership of the SCAPP Articulation Network, the US/CS Joint Advisory Group on Articulation, and the SQA NextGen HN Project Articulation and Progression Working Group.and

Articulation. Our partnership links with Universities continue to evolve, developing from traditional articulation models to integrated learner journeys, where students can seamlessly progress through Higher National college activity on to the next level within Stirling, Heriot-Watt and Strathclyde universities. In partnership with the University of Stirling, we continue to deliver four very strong partnership degree programmes in Applied Biological Sciences; Heritage and Tourism; Digital Media and Software Development with Cyber Security. Unlike traditional articulation arrangements, these are wholly integrated tertiary programmes, jointly designed, developed and delivered by the University, College and industrial partners. Students are enrolled both as students of the College and also the University from the beginning and, while they undertake their HND in College, they benefit from a wide range of enhancement activities, including workplace visits, guest lectures, visits to the University for joint lectures, seminars and practical activities. In terms of wider student life, most of the students on these programmes stay in the University Halls of Residence and participate fully in student life. Data from the University of Stirling shows that participation from students from MD40 is higher on our integrated programmes compared to other under-graduate provision, evidencing that the integrated degree programmes are widening access. We are committed also continue to working work in partnership with college Heriot Watt University on the MEng Chemical Engineering and with the University of Strathclyde’s Engineering Academy on their BEng Chemical Engineering. In addition to these Associate Student articulation arrangements, we also have around 122 formal articulation agreements, with guaranteed places, in a wide range of subject areas with University partners to maximise progression from college to university and have a comprehensive set of articulation agreements with colleges across Scotland. We are committed also working to retaining such entrantsgrow this further by progressively enhancing our work with existing HN students to raise aspirations and support articulation transition, although the year-on-year numbers are difficult to predict accurately, as they depend very much on HN students’ individual interests and circumstances. The College will continue to work with University partners to maintain existing articulation agreements and to increase the number of identified articulation routes available to learners, and are pleased will seek to report a retention rate maximise the benefit of 93% articulation agreements by timely and targeted communication of all relevant articulation opportunities to learners. Early communication of articulation opportunities will continue to be accompanied by appropriate advice and guidance to students and support through the UCAS application process. Learners will also continue to be encouraged to engage with Universities (at subject and programme level) during their HN studies, through the facilitation of visits to University campuses, participation in University hosted lectures and industry events, and bespoke activity aimed at preparing articulating students for the transition to HE. The College will deliver on its core target of 85,987 Credits. Through this category delivery the College will prioritise the delivery of Credits to support re-training and re-skilling and to support economic recovery, maximising full time places where demand is high, and continue to prioritise school engagement with senior phase school pupils. The College is committed to delivering 1,686 Credits as part of the SFC led ‘Developing Scotland’s Workforce’ European Social Fund strategic intervention, focusing on higher level skills to meet regional and national skills needs in the growth sectors of Early Years and Childcare, Hospitality and STEM. Through our Evaluation Report and Enhancement Plan (EREP) we identified an action to enhance tracking and monitoring of student entrantprogress during the academic year, focusing on full time students. As referenced such, two processes have been developed and introduced during Academic Session 2018-19. The first development is that alongside recording student attendance, staff are also asked to comment on whether a student is progressing satisfactorily or not on their course, providing a brief description if a student is progressing satisfactorily. Real time reports are available to curriculum managers, with alert prompts sent where a student has been highlighted as not progressing satisfactorily. The second development has been in-year tracking centrally of predicted performance of every full time student. These predictions have been undertaken three times during the session, and will be compared with year end outcomes. This has allowed real time reporting on our full time PIs at Department, Course and Student level, with the purpose of providing focus to where additional support may be required to help students succeed. Another key action from our EREP was to develop and introduce a streamlined student support system. Our Student Support System (Triple S) has been planned, built, piloted and through Session 2019-20 has been rolled out across all areas. Triple S is a system designed to allow the capturing of all support being provided to a student in section 4.1.3 aboveone place, and to allow staff to access this information in an easy and timeous manner. The Key aims of this system are to streamline the existing support infrastructure available to students, and to make this vital information more accessible to all relevant staff. The College has processes in place to capture various support needs of our students, however because of the disparate nature of the services provided, and also because these processes are predominantly paper based, students could be asked to disclose information multiple times, as they access different functions of the support service. With the introduction of Triple S, information disclosed from students will be captured once within the central system. As Triple S captures this information centrally, it offers the opportunity to present this information back in a very accessible way to staff, which will help ensure that all staff who are in contact with a student are aware of any support needs and ongoing concerns and issues. This information will be available real-time, with icons developed and integrated with other systems, such as Enquirer for attendance and results recording, to quickly signpost to staff that a student has support needs, and provide quick and easy access to this information, to help ensure that our students are effectively supported. As part of the College’s PI Prediction Tracking tool there is an emphasis on identifying and monitoring students who are from the 10% most deprived postcode areas, are Care Experienced, or who have interacted with the College’s Student Support System. The College’s Student Support System (Triple S) was planned, built, piloted and through Session 2019-20 was rolled out across all areas. Planned and structured review meetings with each teaching department have been put in place to track and monitor student progress and engagement through the year. The next stages of development of Triple S, for Session 2020-21 are to incorporate predictive analytics within the system, and to integrate reporting from the systems developed in Session 2019-20 to record student engagement and progress, and predicted performance. The predictive analytics tool will build on a successful model developed within the Sector which uses student behaviour, predominantly around attendance and engagement with their course to provide a predictive score of successful achievement for a student, which will be updated weekly. Integrating the information from our developed systems to capture engagement and progress, and predicted outcome will visually give a picture of how a student is progressing on their course. We believe that the use of the predictive analytics tool, and the use of engagement and predicted outcome tracking, will help staff identify earlier where a student is not engaging fully with their course, and enable engagement with the student to understand if there are any concerns or issues, and provide or signpost advice where necessary. Our aim is to identify issues early, possibly before a student has identified that there is an issue, and to provide advice and support as early as possible, to help maximise the number of students achieving a successful outcome. Through staff engagement combined with the use of these tools, we are working aiming to develop articulation opportunities beyond those afforded by articulation agreementsmaintain our very high attainment rates for part time students, and continue to increase our full time FE and HE attainment rates through Session 2020-21. In Session 2020-21 the College aims to launch Project NxGEN FVC which aims to enhance learning and the student experience at the College with bold aims of being a leading Education 4.0 organisation; having a Digital First culture; being financially resilient; being sector leading on e-assessment and validation design against all programmes; and designing and transforming our curriculum using evidence-based analytics. The BSc (Hons) Degree in Sport Rehabilitation to be delivered with Edinburgh College and City of Glasgow College will WE are offering a NQ Access to Paramedic Science course developed in partnership with Edinburgh College provide an Associate student route to a professionally recognised award not available currently in Scotland that we are confident will provide an attractive option for students at the partner colleges. The development is part of our commitment to providing project has 5 key strands: To ensure an integrated tertiary education model through collaboration with further education partnerswhole system approach, where the learner journey is mapped out, duplication removed, and adds a digital first culture adopted; Transformational curriculum, with a full curriculum review aligned to the growing portfolio of QMU degrees delivered Education 4.0; Inclusion and Student Support, with more targeted ASN and pastoral support aimed at improving retention and attainments; Continuous Curriculum Improvement, where college campuses across the country. We consider that this model of delivery has the potential to increase student articulation numbers, but it does require designed Course Review and PI Tracker tools help managers ensure a flexible funding approach across all partners ie the university, colleges healthy and the SFC. The NQ Access to Paramedic Science course developed in partnership with Edinburgh College welcomed its first cohort of students in September 2021. This programme offers learners a qualification that will be accepted for L1 entry, or for a relevant HN if this is required. Developing this qualification in partnership with Edinburgh College secures a more coherent learning experience, and provides opportunity for university-to-college mentoring and volunteering. We are delighted to continue to be the main HEI partner in the ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇.▇▇.▇▇ web based application (see ▇▇▇.▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇.▇▇.▇▇). We are working with Edinburgh and Fife Colleges on phase two of this exciting development, and are delighted that Skills Development Scotland (SDS) has integrated the database into ‘My World of Work’, which will significantly increase its reach and usage. Through our College Partnership Manger we will continue to contribute to the development of articulation policy and practice through membership of the SCAPP Articulation Network, the US/CS Joint Advisory Group on Articulationfinancially resilient curriculum, and the SQA NextGen HN Project Articulation Learning and Progression Working GroupDigital Skills Academy.

Articulation. Our partnership links with Higher Education continue to evolve, developing from traditional articulation models to integrated learner journeys, where students can seamlessly progress through Higher National college activity on to the next level within Stirling, Heriot- Watt and Strathclyde universities. In 2015-16, in partnership with the University of Stirling, we delivered four very strong integrated degree programmes in Applied Biological Sciences; Heritage and Conservation Management; Digital Media and Computing Science. Unlike traditional articulation arrangements, these are wholly integrated tertiary programmes, jointly designed, developed and delivered by the University, College and industrial partners. Students are Associate Students of the relevant University from the beginning and, while they undertake their HND in college, they benefit from a wide range of enhancement activities, including workplace visits, guest lectures, visits to the University for joint lectures, seminars and practical activities. In terms of wider student life, most of the students on these programmes stay in the University Halls of Residence and participate fully in student life. Data from the University of Stirling shows that participation from students from MD40 is higher on our integrated programmes compared to other under-graduate provision, evidencing that the integrated degree programmes are widening access. We are committed also continue to working work in partnership with college Heriot Watt University on the MEng Chemical Engineering and with the University of Strathclyde’s Engineering Academy on their BEng Chemical Engineering. The above provision will lead to an expected 130 successful students achieving HNC/D qualifications in June 2016 and “articulating” with advanced standing to degree courses at our partner institutions in 2016-17. In addition to these Associate Student articulation arrangements, we also have around 40 formal articulation agreements, with guaranteed places, in a wide range of subject areas with University partners to maximise progression from college to university and have a comprehensive set of articulation agreements with colleges across Scotland. We are committed also These lead, on average, to retaining around 100 individual students articulating with advanced standing each year in subjects such entrantsas Accounting, Business, Sport and are pleased to report a retention rate of 93% for this category of student entrant. As referenced in section 4.1.3 above, we are working to develop articulation opportunities beyond those afforded by articulation agreements. The BSc (Hons) Degree in Sport Rehabilitation to be delivered with Edinburgh College and City of Glasgow College will WE are offering a NQ Access to Paramedic Science course developed in partnership with Edinburgh College provide an Associate student route to a professionally recognised award not available currently in Scotland that we are confident will provide an attractive option for students at the partner colleges. The development is part of our commitment to providing an integrated tertiary education model through collaboration with further education partners, and adds to the growing portfolio of QMU degrees delivered at college campuses across the country. We consider that this model of delivery has the potential to increase student articulation numbers, but it does require a flexible funding approach across all partners ie the university, colleges and the SFC. The NQ Access to Paramedic Science course developed in partnership with Edinburgh College welcomed its first cohort of students in September 2021. This programme offers learners a qualification that will be accepted for L1 entry, or for a relevant HN if this is required. Developing this qualification in partnership with Edinburgh College secures a more coherent learning experience, and provides opportunity for university-to-college mentoring and volunteering. We are delighted to continue to be the main HEI partner in the ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇.▇▇.▇▇ web based application (see ▇▇▇.▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇.▇▇.▇▇)Tourism. We are working to grow this further by progressively enhancing our work with Edinburgh existing HN students to raise aspirations and Fife Colleges support articulation transition, although the year-on-year numbers are difficult to predict accurately, as they depend very much on phase two HN students’ individual interests and circumstances. In 2016-17 the College will work with HEI Partners to maintain existing articulation agreements and to increase the number of this exciting developmentidentified articulation routes available to learners, and are delighted will seek to maximise the benefit of articulation agreements by timely and targeted communication of all relevant articulation opportunities to learners. Early communication of articulation opportunities will be accompanied by appropriate advice and guidance to students and support through the UCAS application process. Learners will also be encouraged to engage with HEIs (at subject and programme level) during their HN studies, through the facilitation of visits to University campuses, participation in University hosted lectures and industry events, and bespoke activity aimed at preparing articulating students for the transition to HE. The College successfully attained STEM Assured status in 2013 and was the first College in Scotland to be STEM accredited by NEF: The Innovation Institute (NEF). NEF influence the inter- relationship between education, business and government, through research and collaborative networks to prepare for an innovative and creative sci-tech workforce. STEM Assured is used by education and training providers as a key differentiator to demonstrate their capability in delivering STEM provision that meets the needs of business and industry. Following a framework covering strategy, engagement, delivery, innovation and impact, it ensures a provider’s vocational STEM offer meets the needs of learners and employers. STEM Assured is an outcomes-based standard developed to recognise high quality cross-curricular science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) education and delivery. It is unique in the education sector and achievement of the standard emphasises exceptional strengths and capabilities, helping providers enhance engagement and success with learners and employers. The Standard offers an assurance process that builds upon existing standards and quality marks an institution may have achieved. Acknowledged by the government (Department of Business, Innovation and Skills), the National Apprenticeship Service and the UK Commission on Employment and Skills Development Scotland (SDS) UKCES), STEM Assured is the ONLY Standard that assures vocational STEM provision. The College was successfully re-accredited with STEM Assured status this session, with the award panel commending the following examples of good practice: • The college is guided by strong management that has integrated clear and ambitious plans for the database into ‘My World development of Work’, which will significantly increase STEM provision using new and innovative approaches. • The college has good engagement with employers and its reach responsiveness to the regional skills needs of industry. • Significant investment in facilities demonstrates commitment and usage. Through our College Partnership Manger we will continue to contribute a strategic approach to the development of articulation policy and practice through membership its STEM provision. For Session 2016-17 the college has set a target of the SCAPP Articulation Networkdelivering 20,500 Credits within STEM (as defined by SFC), the US/CS Joint Advisory Group on Articulation, and the SQA NextGen HN Project Articulation and Progression Working Groupwhich equates to 24% of our overall Credit target.