Many people haven't heard of the West Highland College (WHC).
Some of those who have think it has something to do with Skye's acclaimed Gaelic college Sabhal Mor Ostaig
But WHC is an emerging educational gem in its own right. Part of the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI), it was formed only in 2010 as a result of the merger of Lochaber College and Skye and Wester Ross College.
The significant achievements in its short life have been recognised by HM Inspectors from Education Scotland whose "overarching judgment" is that the college is effective, the highest award.
In particular the inspectors praised the college's engagement with local communities, saying: "It has established a network of 10 learning centres across a wide geographic area to meet the needs of the dispersed rural communities it serves and to address the traditionally low uptake of further education in the West Highlands ... It is the main post-16 learning provider in the region, serving approximately 40,000 people."
It provides for 3000 full and part-time students at the grassroots, from Gairloch's community centre and Ullapool's old harbour office to former industrial units in Kilchoan on the Ardnamurchan peninsula and the High School at Strontian down the road.
The other centres are at Auchtertyre near Kyle of Lochalsh , Fort William, Kinlochleven, Mallaig, Broadford and Portree High School, as well as in a £2.5 million building funded, built and occupied in one year.
It's about as local a delivery of learning as you can have, short of holding seminars on common grazings or in public bars.
But the range is ambitious and relevant. There is the new BA (Hons) adventure tourism management course that is "the only degree of its type operating in a wild, rural location". There is also a recently validated MSc in ecotourism.
In addition, there is a National Certificate in fashion and textiles and one in shipping and maritime operations, an HNC in events management and a Higher in mental health care.
Crucially, a survey found 90% of students said they were learning extremely well; 90% felt extremely happy with the pace of learning and timetabling; 95% that they were being taught to a high standard, and 87% that the college was doing a very good job catering for students' needs.
The indefatigable Michael Foxley (crofter, former Lochaber GP, past local councillor and one-time leader of the Highland Council) was chairman of Lochaber College and of WHC since its inception.
He is understandably proud of WHC. "Even a couple of decades ago everybody left for the city and got on a bus to get to Inverness College or a poorly paid seasonal job locally," he says.
"WHC is all about giving people who have young families, aged parents or little money a chance to study in their own communities.
"But it is also about giving a second chance to those who need it, regardless of the reason. That is vitally important."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article