It has been described as one of the toughest jobs in Scottish education, but the woman who has taken up the post says she is looking forward to the challenge.

Sue Pinder has set about transforming James Watt College in Greenock, ranked as Scotland's worst-run college after years of mismanagement and turmoil.

"People say I must be mad, but I have to say this appealed to me," said James Watt's new principal. "When I came here for the first time and walked round it reminded me of what a traditional college should be and, when I looked at everything, I really didn't think there was anything that couldn't be fixed."

Once the envy of the sector and a byword for innovation and expansion, the college has just been through the most catastrophic period in its 100-year history.

Concerns over the running of the college under former principal, professor Bill Wardle, saw the Scottish Funding Council draft in a team of experts to find out what was going wrong. Their report reverberated throughout the sector.

The document highlighted a catalogue of failings including "dysfunctional" management, "dismal" financial performance and a "simmering blame culture".

It went on to describe "blatant waste" and a "spend, spend" culture at the college, which was £6.8m in debt, partly thanks to "excessive" spending on overseas trips by senior managers, who visited 22 countries in three years at a cost of £224,800.

Mr Wardle was given a pay-off of £130,000 and Dr Graham Clark was appointed interim principal. His immediate task was to stabilise the financial position and put it into surplus, but his tenure was unpopular with staff, who could not see the rationale behind the financial savings.

Into this hotbed of dissent steps Ms Pinder, former principal of West Lothian College, who seems remarkably cheerful for a woman taking on such a task.

Ms Pinder is scathing about what she found when she arrived - a situation she puts down to mismanagement.

There is no better illustration of the management malaise than the fact that, when Ms Pinder paid a visit to the night-shift cleaning staff, they told her they hadn't seen a senior management representative for seven years.

"For all senior management knew, they hadn't been turning up at all. It was an extraordinary situation," she said.

"It is my management style to walk about the college and see people and ask them how they are getting on, but I have been to departments here who said they had never been visited by the principal before. That is just wrong."

Although its immediate financial future has been stabilised, Ms Pinder says the college requires a root-and- branch review of the curriculum to make what it offers more relevant and to attract students back.

Traditionally, the college has provided the skills for workers for the heavy industries along the Clyde, most of which no longer exist.

Ms Pinder said there would be a review of the curriculum, with the involvement of all staff, to make what is being taught as relevant as possible. First, however, she feels it is vital to have a period of reflection where there are no significant changes.

"There are no planned redundancies, but there will be some tough decisions about the future shape of the college. There is a high resistance to change here but we will have to change to safeguard the future of the college for the people of Inverclyde and beyond," she added.