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Overview

An infographic that highlights key statistics from the publication. It shows the total number of enrolments, Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) and student headcount of Scottish Colleges.

College Statistics

Figure 1: Enrolments, FTE and Headcount 2014-15 to 2023-24 at Scotland’s Colleges

Academic Year Enrolments Students FTEs
2014-15 297,011 226,898 131,619
2015-16 281,051 226,794 129,500
2016-17 291,849 235,187 132,494
2017-18 303,115 242,488 131,953
2018-19 328,889 264,858 129,821
2019-20 302,092 239,004 127,683
2020-21 277,620 212,755 128,559
2021-22 322,332 236,730 129,175
2022-23 329,920 248,907 124,654
2023-24 267,668 218,145 116,602

  1. Colleges receive funding from the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) to deliver a target number of hours of learning (credits). For the 2023-24 academic year (AY) SFC adjusted the credit allocations for colleges lowering the threshold for all colleges by 10% as a first step in working with the sector to move towards credit allocations that more closely reflect anticipated student activity. The overall level of funding was maintained, meaning that the price per place increased. These changes increased planning certainty for colleges, minimising the risk of recovery of funds if activity was not delivered1.

  2. For 2023-24 the core target was 1,552,851 credits which includes mainstream courses plus Foundation Apprenticeships (FAs). This is a 10% decrease from 2022-23 where the core target was 1,725,225 credits. This change was in line with the rebasing of credits that was undertaken. Colleges exceeded this threshold, delivering 1,565,139 credits in AY 2023-24 which is a 7.5% decrease from 2022-23 where the number of credits delivered was 1,692,042. Overall, in 2023-24 the sector delivered over 100% of these places compared to 98.1% in the previous session.

  3. Beyond credit funding from SFC, colleges receive funding from other sources including public, self-funding, or support by other sources (such as Skills Development Scotland). Overall, based on all funding sources, 116,602 Full-time Equivalent (FTE) places were delivered in 2023-24 by Scottish institutions. The number of FTEs (all funding sources) has decreased from the previous year by 8,052 and is lower than any other AY across the past nine sessions. This is a 6.5% decrease compared to 2022-23 FTEs.

  4. Alongside FTE, both the total student headcount and number of enrolments have decreased. Student headcount fell by around 12.4% compared to the previous session, whereas the number of enrolments decreased by around 18.9% compared to 2022-23. The fall in student headcount, enrolments and total FTE is driven by an overall decrease in the number of enrolments on both part-time and full-time courses. More data on headcount, enrolment and definitions are available in the supplementary tables and annexes.

  5. Despite the decreased student headcount, enrolments and total FTE, college participation rates increased in 2023-24 for the 18-to-19-year-old population. Nineteen percent of Scottish 18-to-19-year-olds participated in a full-time college course in 2023-24, a 1.3 percentage point increase from 2022-23 and the first increase after two consecutive years of a decrease in participation rates. This was driven by an increase in the number of 18-to-19-year-olds studying full-time in 2023-24, but a decrease in the number of 18-to-19-year-olds in the Scottish population. The number of 18-to-19-year-olds in the population is expected to grow after 2023-24 until the end of the decade. More information on these projections is provided in the background tables of this report.

  6. There has been a reduction in the availability of funding for Scottish college students for the 2023-24 AY. No additional funding was made available through the Flexible Workforce Development Fund (FWDF) for the 2023-24 or 2024-25 sessions2. The impact of this saw a reduction in FTEs, enrolments and the number of students funded by the FWDF. Both the Young Persons Guarantee3 and National Transition Training Fund4 ended in 2022-23; in 2022-23 the numbers of students on these courses were small so the impact of removing these schemes was minimal on the overall volume of provision delivered across the sector.

Figure 2: Full-time Equivalents at Scotland’s Colleges by mode and level of study, 2014-15 to 2023-24

Academic Year Part-time FE Full-time FE Part-time HE Full-time HE Total
2014-15 36,493 54,024 6,526 34,576 131,619
2015-16 32,986 56,652 5,181 34,681 129,500
2016-17 35,423 57,119 5,409 34,543 132,494
2017-18 36,994 55,439 5,267 34,254 131,953
2018-19 37,802 53,157 5,354 33,508 129,821
2019-20 36,785 53,157 4,747 32,994 127,683
2020-21 38,033 50,087 5,193 35,246 128,559
2021-22 42,126 49,752 4,865 32,432 129,175
2022-23 43,469 49,120 4,987 27,078 124,654
2023-24 38,305 47,842 4,684 25,772 116,602

  1. After a decline from 2021-22 to 2022-23, full-time Higher Education (HE) FTEs also fell by 4.8% from 2022-23 to 2023-24. With the exception of 2020-21 (which could have been influenced by the Covid pandemic) there has been a long-term trend of decline in full-time HE provision. Following an increase from the previous session part-time HE FTEs decreased by 6.1%.

  2. Due to the flexible nature of the college sector in Scotland, students frequently enroll on multiple courses in a given academic year. In 2023-24, 16.7% of students were enrolled on more than one course. This is a change from 2014-15, where 23% of students were enrolled on more than one course.

  3. At Further Education (FE) level, full-time FTEs (all funding sources) dropped by 2.6% in 2023-24 and part-time FTEs have dropped by 11.9% from the previous session. A decrease in part-time FE FTEs, to a level similar to that of during the COVID-19 pandemic, was expected given the reduction in funds through work-based learning funding streams such as the FWDF.

  4. In 2023-24, the subject area of Health Care/Medicine/Health and Safety had the highest share of learning provision (FTEs) among all subjects, at 15.4%. This is a slight increase from 2014-15, where this subject area accounted for 14.3% of all learning provision (FTEs). Compared to the 2014-15 session, the subject area of Construction and Property (Built Environment) has seen the biggest increase in its share of all learning provision (FTEs), with a share of 7.5% in 2014-15 and 10.4% in 2022-23. The subject area of Family Care/Personal Development/Personal Care and Appearance has seen the largest fall in share of all learning provision (FTEs) since 2014-15 (-2.2%), though remains one of subject areas with the largest overall share of FTEs, at 11.8% in 2023-24.

  5. The gap between male and female enrolments reduced in 2023-24, with the male to female ratio now standing at 49.6%/50.4%. Females outnumber males in both FE and HE college courses, with the gap being widest in HE courses (48.9%/51.1%).