Learn more about awards won by our students and staff, and about our performance at inspections.
We like to think that our students and staff make New College Lanarkshire an exciting, innovative and friendly place to learn.
But you don’t have to just take our word for it. Have a look at our recent awards and accolades to understand why we’re proud to be part of something very special.
Our staff and students have proven themselves by excelling in a variety of competitions and assignments.
Here are just a few of the awards, honours and accomplishments achieved by New College Lanarkshire over the academic year 2018/19.
Photography students have a strong track record at the British Institute of Professional Photography (BIPP) Scottish Region Student Awards – and in May 2019, HNC student Vikki O’Brien won a coveted Gold award in the Open category for her image ‘Stillness beneath the crossings’, which captures all three Forth crossings.
The men’s football team from New College Lanarkshire triumphed in the 2019 College National Finals in Edinburgh in May 2019. The team beat Dundee & Angus College 3–0 in a final organised by Scottish Student Sport. Andrew Johnston was also named as the recipient of the MVP (Most Valuable Player) Award.
STEM activities have been a big focus for the College in 2018/19 – and it all kicked off in October 2018 with a visit from Sir Boyd Tunnock, who is also a fellow of the College! Richard Lochhead MSP, Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science, visited the College in February 2019 to launch Scotland’s first annual STEM Strategy report. And children from the Coatbridge and Cumbernauld campus nurseries helped launch STEM Lanarkshire in March 2019.
Broadwood student Erin Wilson was included in the squad of the national student women’s football team – and helped them win the Home Nations 2019 tournament in Wales in April 2019. Erin, who plays for Hamilton Academical WFC, was one of only two students from further education institutions selected for the 18-strong squad.
In March 2019, focused Photography students captured 14 Awards of Excellence from the Master Photographers Association (MPA) Scottish Region Awards 2019 – and Fabrizio Fella was named Student Photographer of the Year. In the same month, NQ Photography student Anna Turek won a competition to have her image of Glenfinnan Monument feature in the True Highlands 2020 calendar.
After bringing home a bronze medal for Mechanical Engineering: CAD from EuroSkills Budapest in September 2018, former student Ross Megahy went on to win a place in Team UK to compete in WorldSkills Kazan 2019. He is one of 32 elite students and apprentices from the UK – and one of only four from Scotland – who will travel to the tournament dubbed the ‘skills olympics’ in August (22–27).
The Coatbridge Campus was chosen to host a prestigious WorldSkills UK team selection event in March 2019. Eleven competitors battled for one of four available places to represent the UK in either IT Network Administration, Mechanical Engineering: CAD, 3D Digital Game Art, or Web Design.
The Learner Engagement Team’s ‘Market Day’ initiative was named runner-up in the Shaping the Curriculum category of the third annual Student Partnerships in Quality Scotland (sparqs) Student Engagement Awards, which took place in Edinburgh in March 2019.
The specialist hub for Electronic Fire & Security courses at Kirkintilloch Campus was the focus of a three-day skills competition attracting almost 100 industry professionals in March 2019 – and the facilities so impressed Richard Jenkins, Chief Executive of the National Security Inspectorate (NSI), that he labelled them “best in class across the UK”. Four time-served EFS apprentices picked up second and third places at the Security & Fire Excellence Awards in London in November 2018.
A former HND Computer Aided Architectural Design and Technology student Sophie Orr was awarded the ‘Keep your eye on this one’ accolade at the BIM (Building Information Modelling) Awards in Newcastle in February 2019. In November 2018, Sophie won gold at the WorldSkills UK pilot BIM for Architectural Design competition.
Apprentices Matthew Davies and Caitlin Sweeney were named Engineering Apprentices of the Year at an awards ceremony held in memory of former colleague, James Cuthbertson, in January 2019.
Music Business students hosted their annual Question Session event incorporating a music conference and live gig in Glasgow in February 2019 – which was attended by US-based ‘godfather of grunge’ Jack Endino.
Automotive and Art & Design students were honoured at the Scottish Motor Trade Association (SMTA) C.A.R Star Awards, which recognises community activity in the industry and was held in the Radisson Blue Hotel in Glasgow in November 2018. Cumbernauld Campus student Stuart Cochrane was also named Scottish Light Vehicle Student of the Year.
Almost 150 people turned out for a ‘Discover Early Years at NCL’ event held at 101 Park Street in Coatbridge Campus in November 2019, which showcased the emerging opportunities available in the sector.
Kate Wilson, the College’s Curriculum and Quality Leader for Dental Nursing, was named Outstanding Dental Nurse Tutor of the Year by the British Society of Dental Nurses in November 2018.
Sport student Ross Connelly won a bronze medal for wrestling at the Helsinki Open in November 2018. He also represented Great Britain in the European Junior (U20) Championships in Pontevedra, Spain in June 2019 and competed in Bucharest, Romania in May 2019.
Twelve NCL students brought home awards from national skills competition WorldSkills UK in Birmingham in November 2018. The College finished second on the leaderboard, with four golds, three silvers, one bronze and three special awards.
New College Lanarkshire was validated by the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) in August 2018 for its commitment to supporting the professional learning and development of lecturing staff. GTCS has awarded a quality mark to validate the college’s professional review and development (PRD) policy and processes for a five-year period to 2023.
BA Musical Theatre student Zoe Heggie beat more than 2,000 hopefuls to win a talent search organised by a Dundee newspaper – and went on to sing for an audience of 3,000 people at the annual Glamis Prom in August 2018, featuring on a bill alongside West End names including Kerry Ellis and Norman Bowman, The Voice star Saskia Eng and River City’s Tom Urie.
Hospitality student Patryk Brodacki completed a scholarship with the Gleneagles Hotel in the summer of 2018. He was only the second recipient of the Gibby Culinary Scholarship, which was set up in memory of late Gleneagles chef Alan Gibb.
Education Scotland has created a new quality framework, How Good Is Our College, to allow colleges to scrutinise their work, evaluate what is working well and what could be better.
The framework aims to integrate Education Scotland’s evaluative activities and the Scottish Funding Council’s Regional Outcome Agreements and requires colleges to promote equity, ensuring that all learners have the best chance of a successful outcome.
The New College Lanarkshire Evaluative Report (2017-18) was published on 26 February 2019.
The report praised the College for leading in skills development both locally and nationally.
It identified that improvements have been achieved in 2017-18 in early withdrawal levels and success of FE-FT learners, but recognised areas that still need to be addressed to ensure that improvement made is consolidated and built upon.
The report grades three key principles:
Read the full report here:
How Good Is Our College Evaluative Report – February 2019
New College Lanarkshire received a very positive review from Education Scotland in its first external review carried out after Coatbridge, Cumbernauld and Motherwell colleges merged.
This report was published on May 29, 2015. The College was rated ‘effective’, which was the highest rating for colleges that the Government body can assign.
Read the full report here:
