Class 1: About UHI North, West and Hebrides
Class 1: About UHI North, West and Hebrides
Please navigate the below expanding tabs to read information about UHI North, West and Hebrides: who we are, where to find us, how to contact us, how we are managed and our external relations.
General information about UHI North, West and Hebrides
General information about UHI North, West and Hebrides
UHI North, West and Hebrides is the creation of a merger between UHI North Highland, UHI West Highland and UHI Outer Hebrides colleges which took place in August 2023. College headquarters are located at:
UHI North, West and Hebrides,
Ormlie Road,
Thurso,
Scotland
KW14 7EE
Senior Officers
Principal and CEO: Lydia Rohmer
Location and our Learning Centres
Core business hours are Monday – Friday 09:00 – 17:00
The College academic year runs from September until June of the following year. College term dates, including details of closure and bank holidays, are detailed on the academic calendar, linked above.
Organisational Overview
As a recently merged entity, UHI North, West and Hebrides is in the process of restructuring its organisational units; unit descriptions, associated leadership and organisational structure charts are anticipated to be published to this page in 2024.
Complaints and customer care
Enquiries and Complaints Privacy Notice
Contact details for complaints are below:
Email: complaints.nwh@uhi.ac.uk
Post: UHI North, West and Hebrides
FAO Quality Department
Ormlie Road,
Thurso, Scotland
KW14 7EE
Any legal documents that require to be served should be addressed in writing to the Principal and Chief Executive, Lydia Rohmer:
UHI North, West and Hebrides,
Ormlie Road,
Thurso, Caithness
Scotland
KW14 7EE
Codes and Charters
Access to information
Access to information
Freedom of Information and Environmental Information Regulations Policy
This section details how to submit the following requests:
Freedom of Information (FOI) or Environmental Information (EIR) Requests
Applicants are encouraged to submit FOI and EIR requests in writing to the Freedom of Information Officer (contact details below). However, requests submitted in permanent form using any College contact method will be accepted.
Email: foi.nwh@uhi.ac.uk
Address:
Freedom of Information Officer
UHI North, West and Hebrides
Ormlie Road, Thurso
Caithness
KW14 7EE
Phone: 01847 889 000 and ask to speak to the Freedom of Information Officer.
FOI requests: Please note that for an FOI request to be considered valid, it must be submitted in permanent format and state your name and contact details per s8 Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002.
EIR requests: Written requests are preferred, although any listed contact method is accepted.
Charging schedule for EIR requests
FOI and EIR appeals and complaints: section 7 of our FOI & EIR Policy outlines the process for requesting an appeal if you are not satisfied with our response to your request. Upon exhaustion of the appeals process, details of how to complain to the Scottish Information Commissioner are listed.
Data Subject Access Request or Data Subject Rights (GDPR and data protection)
All individuals have a right to obtain a copy of the personal information the College holds about them either in electronic or manual form. This is commonly referred to as subject access. The college has one month to respond and cannot charge a fee in most circumstances.
Please address all data protection requests to:
Email: dpo.nwh@uhi.ac.uk
Address:
Data Protection Officer
UHI North, West and Hebrides
Ormlie Road, Thurso, Caithness
KW14 7EE
Phone: 01847 889 000 and ask to speak to the DPO.
Personal data held by legacy colleges
UHI North Highland, UHI West Highland and UHI Outer Hebrides merged 1st August 2023 to form UHI North, West and Hebrides. If wish to access personal data held by one of the legacy colleges, please note that UHI North, West and Hebrides has retained a copy of this data in accordance with the Records Retention Policy of each legacy college. You can request a copy of your personal data by writing to the DPO of UHI North, West and Hebrides using the contact details listed above.
College constitution
College constitution
The Board of Management of UHI North, West and Hebrides is a body corporate, incorporated under the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992 pursuant to The Transfer of Colleges of Further Education (Scotland) Order 1992 (S.S.I 1992 No.1597). The name of the Board of Management of UHI North, West and Hebrides was changed on 1 August 2023 following the merger with UHI West Highland, UHI North Highland and UHI Outer Hebrides. The constitution and proceedings of the Board of Management of UHI North, West and Hebrides are governed by Schedule 2 to the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992.
The Board of Management of UHI North, West and Hebrides is assigned to the University of the Highlands and Islands as regional strategic body under the Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 2005 (as amended by the Post-16 Education (Scotland) Act 2013).
The Board of Management of UHI North, West and Hebrides is a Scottish charity (Scottish charity number SC021215) and is recognised by HMRC as a charity for tax purposes.
How the college is run
How the college is run
Board of management
Compliance with government legislation and with the requirements of the Scottish Funding Council and other statutory bodies is the responsibility of the Board of Management, which delegates authority to the Principal, Senior Managers and Executive Leadership Team.
On the 1st August 2023 the Transition Board for the Rural and Islands College Merger Project became the Board of Management for the newly formed College, UHI North, West and Hebrides.
Board Publications
The following link: Approved Governance Documents contains the below information:
- Constitution and Proceedings
- Board Membership
- Scheme of Delegation
- Standing Orders for the Conduct of Meetings
- Code of Good Governance
- Code of Conduct for Members of Board of Management
Scheduled Board and committee dates
The process for reappointment of Board members is set out in the Ministerial Guidance for Board appointments College board appointments: guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot).
UHI North, West and Hebrides aligns with the Code of Good Governance for Scotland’s Colleges.
Drafts of Board committee publications are pending approval and will be confirmed by the Board of UHI North, West and Hebrides as soon as possible following the merger vesting date; this page will be updated as they become available:
- Committee membership
- Committee terms of reference
- Board committee structure
This page will be updated with future Gender Representation Annual Returns when UHI North, West and Hebrides has completed its first return.
Management of Conflicts of Interest
Senior Independent Member is Shona MacDougall
Corporate Planning
Corporate Planning
College Vision: To be an anchor institution for the region – a connected, flexible, and sustainable learning organisation, opening doors to a world of opportunity.
College Mission: We will connect island and rural Scotland, pioneering distinctive education and research opportunities to enable our student and communities to shape their future in a changing world.
UHI North, West and Hebrides is the result of a merger that took place on August 1st 2023, internal procedures for planning and resource are still under development and will be published to this page as soon as they are available.
The College aims to share information regarding the below by September 2023, in line with the formal launch of the UHI North, West and Hebrides website:
- College Corporate/Strategic Plan
- Corporate Strategy
- Corporate Policies
Equality and Diversity
Equality and Diversity
A description of the college's support structures for disability is provided to students at enrolment and in the student handbook, which is also published to our website. Students, business contacts and members of the public can find out more about the support services available, or by contacting us to discuss any requirements:
Email: studentsupport.nwh@uhi.ac.uk
Phone: 01847 889000 and ask to speak to Student Services
Summary statistics on support for disability within the college e.g. numbers of staff and students with particular types of disability will be included in the biennial Equality Mainstreaming Report.
This page will be updated with a copy of the Equality Mainstreaming Reports for each of the legacy colleges once analysis has concluded July 2024.
Building accessibility
UHI North, West and Hebrides learning centres are accessible, and the majority are equipped with the below infrastructure:
- Toilet facilities
- Entrance ramps
- Lifts
- Support for audio and visual impairment can be provided on request, please call the College on 01847 889000 to arrange if required.
Safety
Safety
Policies, procedures and guidelines relating to Health and Safety and Fire Safety are set out in the ‘Safety’ section of the Publications and Policies page
Please write to the FOI Officer if you have an enquiry relating to Health and Safety and it will be forwarded onto UHI North, West and Hebrides Health and Safety Team.
Monitoring, Reporting and Statistics
Future annual Health and Safety reports to the H&S Executive will be published here as they become available at the end of the year.
Regular monitoring of health and safety matters is carried out by the Health & Safety Committee. This Committee also monitors the College’s support structures for Health and Safety.
Procedures for recording and retaining summary statistics on accidents and incidents within the College comply strictly with HSE guidelines and in accordance with the Data Protection Act. Statistics are published annually and this page will be updated as they become available.
Support Structure for Safety
The Principal and Chief Executive has overall responsibility for safety at the College. Management of day-to-day matters is delegated to the Safety Team, which is comprised of x3 practitioners based across our learning centres. The team meet regularly to identify, discuss and progress all matters relating to safety, and provide regular updates to the Executive Leadership Team.
External and community relations
External and community relations
Alumni
No information available, this page will be updated once alumni arrangements are established.
Facilities and services
The College has 19 campuses across the Highlands and Outer Hebrides regions, at the following locations:
- Auchtertyre
- Broadford
- Fort William
- Gairloch
- Kilchoan
- Kinlochleven
- Mallaig
- Portree
- Strontian
- Ullapool
- Caithness (including Thurso)
- Dornoch
- Allness
- Halkirk
- Stornoway
- North Uist
- Benbecula
- Barra
- Cnoc Soilleir (South Uist)
Following on from a recent merger, UHI North, West and Hebrides will update this page with links to each campus and the facilities offered as the website is developed. An interim high-level summary is provided below:
UHI North, West and Hebrides provides facilities for the hire of rooms for meetings and conferences to local organisations at several of its campuses and the cafeterias in Stornoway, Thurso, Portree and Fort William are open to members of the public during term time.
Exhibitions, Fashion Shows and events which are open to the public are held regularly at The Taigh Chearsabhagh art school at the North Uist centre, Fort William, Portree and Auchtertyre centres.
A range of leisure classes, short courses and commercial courses are available to the public at various campuses. In partnership with Ceòlas Uibhist, the Cnoc Soilleir center (South Uist) delivers community-led activities around Gaelic language learning, heritage, culture, music, and dance.
Taster Days and open days are held regularly throughout the year at various campuses.
Our excellent student training facilities offer public services for affordable prices:
- hair and beauty treatments are available at the House of Morven (Thurso Campus) and Beauty Salon (Fort William).
- top quality cuisine is on offer at Flagstones commercial training restaurant (Thurso campus) and at The Burghfield Restaurant (Dornoch campus).
Corporate Fundraising
No information available, this page will be updated if UHI North, West and Hebrides engages in fundraising activities.
Marketing
Information created specifically to publicise facilities and activities including press releases, college website, newsletters and magazines: this information is published on the College website and through social media channels (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter).
Information on any subsidiary companies (wholly and part owned) and other significant financial interests are set out in the Annual Accounts. These are published under the ‘general’ section of the Publications and Policies page.
Strategic Agreements
Government and Regulatory Relations
Government and Regulatory Relations
Statistical reports and returns
The College is legally obligated to provide reports and statistical returns to various public bodies. The submitted information is publicly available on each of these websites:
- Scottish Funding Council: sfc.ac.uk (Funding body. Data submitted includes student admission, progression, completion, qualifications, and destination statistics; student equalities data; finance; and staffing)
- Higher Education Statistics Authority: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/ (submitted via UHI)
- Education Scotland: educationscotland.gov.uk (includes reviews and follow-up reports)
Other statutory reports
UHI North, West and Hebrides is the result of a merger that took place on August 1st 2023.
It is anticipated that the annual accounts for the legacy colleges will be published to this location by the end of November 2023.
This page will be regularly reviewed and updated with other reports as they are finalised and scheduled for publication, e.g. annual equality reports.
Audit arrangements
The College’s external auditors are:
Deloitte UK
Saltire Court,
20 Castle Terrace,
Edinburgh
EH1 2DB
The College’s internal auditors are:
Wylie Bisset
68 Bath St,
Glasgow
G2 4PT