List of further and higher education colleges in Scotland is a list of further education and higher education colleges in Scotland. Most colleges provide both levels of qualification.
Further education colleges offer courses for people over the age of sixteen, involving school-level qualifications such as Higher Grade exams, as well as work-based learning.
Higher education colleges offer degree-level courses, such as diplomas.
Scottish colleges are funded primarily by the Scottish Funding Council, with tuition fees paid by individual students or their sponsors.
Not included in this list are a number of colleges which became affiliated with the UHI Millennium Institute, a grouping of further education colleges mostly located in the Highlands, in 2001. Since January 2011, these 13 colleges are now officially federated as constituent colleges of the University of the Highlands and Islands upon being granted university status.
| College | Location | Founded | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aberdeen College | Aberdeen | 1991 | Merger of Aberdeen College of Commerce, Aberdeen Technical College and Clinterty Agricultural College |
| Adam Smith College | Glenrothes, Kirkcaldy, Leven, Lochgelly | 2005 | Merger of Fife College and Glenrothes College |
| Angus College | Arbroath | 1956 | |
| Anniesland College | Glasgow | 1964 | |
| Ayr College | Ayr | 1947 | |
| Banff and Buchan College | Fraserburgh | 1982 | The Buchan Technical College became the Banff and Buchan College of Further Education in 1982. |
| Borders College | Duns, Edinburgh, Galashiels, Hawick, Newtown St Boswells and Peebles | 1984 | Merger of the Agricultural Centre at Newtown, Duns Agricultural Centre, Galashiels Technical College and St. Boswells and Henderson Technical College |
| Cardonald College | Glasgow | 1972 | |
| Carnegie College | Cowdenbeath, Dunfermline and Rosyth | 2007 | Established (as Lauder College) in 1899 |
| City of Glasgow College | Glasgow | 2010 | formed by a merger of Central College (previously Central College of Commerce, Glasgow College of Nautical Studies and Glasgow Metropolitan College - a merger of Glasgow College of Building and Printing and Glasgow College of Food Technology) |
| Clydebank College | Clydebank | 1965 | |
| Coatbridge College | Coatbridge | 1891 | Originally named Coatbridge Technical School. It is the oldest college in Scotland |
| Cumbernauld College | Cumbernauld | 1976 | |
| Dumfries and Galloway College | Dumfries | 1973 | |
| Dundee College | Dundee | 1985 | Merger of Dundee College of Commerce and Kingsway Technical College |
| Edinburgh College | Dalkeith and Edinburgh | 2012 | Merger of Edinburgh's Telford College, Jewel and Esk College and Stevenson College, Edinburgh |
| Forth Valley College | Alloa, Falkirk and Stirling | 2005 | Merger of Clackmannan College and Falkirk College |
| Glasgow School of Art | Glasgow | 1845 | |
| James Watt College | Greenock, Kilwinning, Largs | 1907 | |
| John Wheatley College | Glasgow | 1989 | |
| Kilmarnock College | Kilmarnock | 1966 | |
| Langside College | Glasgow and Rutherglen | 1947 | |
| Leith School of Art | Edinburgh | 1987 | |
| Motherwell College | Motherwell | 1968 | |
| Newbattle Abbey College | Dalkeith | 1937 | |
| North Glasgow College | Glasgow | 1965 | |
| Reid Kerr College | Paisley | ? | |
| Royal Conservatoire of Scotland | Glasgow | 1845 | |
| Scotland's Rural University College (SRUC) | Aberdeen, Ayr, Broxburn, Cupar, Dumfries, and Edinburgh | 2012 | Merger of Barony College, Elmwood College, Oatridge Agricultural College and the Scottish Agricultural College |
| South Lanarkshire College | Cambuslang, East Kilbride | 1948 | |
| Stow College | Glasgow | 1934 | |
| West Lothian College | Livingston | 1965 | Relocated from Bathgate to Livingston in 2001 |
Famous quotes containing the words education, colleges and/or scotland:
“Those who first introduced compulsory education into American life knew exactly why children should go to school and learn to read: to save their souls.... Consistent with this goal, the first book written and printed for children in America was titled Spiritual Milk for Boston Babes in either England, drawn from the Breasts of both Testaments for their Souls’ Nourishment.”
—Dorothy H. Cohen (20th century)
“If the factory people outside the colleges live under the discipline of narrow means, the people inside live under almost every other kind of discipline except that of narrow means—from the fruity austerities of learning, through the iron rations of English gentlemanhood, down to the modest disadvantages of occupying cold stone buildings without central heating and having to cross two or three quadrangles to take a bath.”
—Margaret Halsey (b. 1910)
“Four and twenty at her back
And they were a’ clad out in green;
Tho the King of Scotland had been there
The warst o’ them might hae been his Queen.
On we lap and awa we rade
Till we cam to yon bonny ha’
Whare the roof was o’ the beaten gold
And the floor was o’ the cristal a’.”
—Unknown. The Wee Wee Man (l. 21–28)