Edinburgh College signs partnership agreement with The Battle of Prestonpans (1745) Heritage Trust

Edinburgh College has signed a new partnership agreement with The Battle of Prestonpans (1745) Heritage Trust aimed at enhancing students’ learning opportunities and further promoting Prestonpans Battlefield as a cultural heritage asset.

The three-year partnership, initiated as part of the 275th anniversary of the Battle of Prestonpans, will see the College’s Computing students taking on a project to create an engaging and interactive website for the The Battle of Prestonpans (1745) Heritage Trust.

The students will use their skills to develop a site which takes visitors through the story of the iconic battle (the first significant engagement of the Jacobite rising of 1745) and which provides a new digital presence for the battlefield and its heritage online.

Students will also advise the Trust on how it can use social media and mobile applications to improve the experience of visitors interested in exploring more about the famous battle. The College will engage local high school pupils in the project to transfer knowledge and further expand the reach of the work.

The project aims to develop further opportunities for students from across the College’s other curriculum areas by using the battle and project as a theme for work, including students from Broadcast Media courses filming and documenting the project throughout.

As part of the partnership, The Battle of Prestonpans (1745) Heritage Trust will provide a monetary donation to the College to help fund the project.

The agreement was signed by The Battle of Prestonpans (1745) Heritage Trust Co-Chair Gordon Prestoungrange and Edinburgh College Vice Principal Michael Jeffrey at the College’s Milton Road Campus.

Michael Jeffrey said: “This partnership will bring great opportunities for our students to work on a live project, enabling them to hone their skills and develop an increased presence and improved user experience for The Battle of Prestonpans (1745) Heritage Trust.

“We look forward to developing the partnership further over the next three years to utilise the talents of our students and help to continue to tell the story of such a pivotal event in Scotland’s history.”

Gordon Prestoungrange said: “The Battle of Prestonpans was about a young leader overcoming great obstacles to succeed.  Therefore, we are delighted to work with Edinburgh College to encourage and support their students who shall become our future leaders.”

Tory Erasmus “sell-out” to impact on 3,484 students in Edinburgh

SNP MSP Gordon MacDonald has warned that thousands of university students in Edinburgh could lose out on the opportunity to study abroad – after the UK Tory government pulled support for the Erasmus last week.

New figures from the Scottish Parliament’s Information Centre (SPICe), show that, between 2014/15 and 2017/18, 3,484 students from the city’s higher education institutions studied abroad through the Erasmus+ programme.

With Boris Johnson’s Tory government choosing to vote against continued membership of Erasmus+ remaining part of negotiations with the EU, Gordon MacDonald MSP has claimed that the same number of students could now miss out over the next four years if Scotland is blocked from the programme.

The Erasmus+ scheme aims to promote and modernise education, training, youth work and sport across Europe, and gives students from a variety of backgrounds the opportunity to live, work and study in other European countries.

SNP MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Gordon MacDonald said: “The Erasmus programme has been hugely valuable to our city’s universities and students over the years, so it’s saddening the Tories have decided to sell out and pull support for the programme. 

“Our students here in Edinburgh have benefitted massively from the opportunity to take a year abroad in Europe, giving them the chance to experience new cultures and ways of learning.

“Of course our city’s culture is also richer thanks to students from the continent coming to spend time in our world-class universities, contributing to our economy and society in the process.

“My message to Edinburgh’s students is this – don’t let Boris Johnson cut you off from the world. It’s time to put Scotland’s future in Scotland’s hands so we can build a fairer, more outward looking nation at the heart of Europe. It’s time for independence.”

Figures from SPICe: (erasmusplus.org.uk/statistics)

  • Glasgow 2014/15 – 2017/18: 3,647 outgoing students
    • Royal Conservatoire of Scotland – 49
    • Glasgow Caledonian University – 545
    • Glasgow School of Art – 214
    • Glasgow University – 1426
    • Strathclyde University – 1413
  • Edinburgh 2014/15 – 2017/18: 3,484 outgoing students
    • Napier University – 472
    • Heriot Watt University – 692
    • Queen Margaret University – 27
    • Edinburgh University – 2293
  • Aberdeen 2014/15 – 2017/18: 1,367 outgoing students
    • Robert Gordon University – 628

Aberdeen University – 739

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Tackling the Seafield Stench

Major Investment at Seafield Waste Water Treatment Works

Major investment is planned for the country’s biggest waste water treatment works so it can serve the growing needs of Scotland’s capital city. The news has been welcomed by local MSP Ben Macpherson.
Scottish Water will carry out improvements to the Seafield Waste Water Treatment Works (WWTW) in Edinburgh, which processes 300 million litres of waste water every day, to help improve operational resilience and mitigate potential odours at the facility and support the city’s growing population.

Following an independent review, a number of recommendations were made for the site and these improvements have been delivered.

In addition to measures already taken, Scottish Water’s further investment of about £10 million in improved sludge storage will be delivered during a new investment programme, which starts in 2021.

This follows a review of treatment capacity in the region which has established that Seafield and Newbridge WWTWs can accommodate forecast growth in the region until at least 2029, after which there will need to be a review of further required investment at that time.

Scottish Water will work with its partners in the Edinburgh and Lothians Drainage Partnership (ELDP) to reduce the amount of surface water entering our sewers and volumes arriving at Seafield WWTW, and to mitigate climate change risks.

Scottish Water is committed to minimising odour issues in the area of the Seafield WWTW and is working closely with its operating partners, Veolia, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and Edinburgh City Council.

Douglas Millican, Scottish Water’s Chief Executive, said: “Scottish Water has already completed a lot of the work that was recommended in the independent review and we are committed to working with the community going forward to ensure that the planned investment and future investment is done in partnership.

“We are bringing forward this investment in extra sludge storage to help with odour risk management and we are confident that, as strategically important sites, Seafield WWTW and Newbridge WWTW can accommodate additional waste water to meet the needs of a growing region.”

He added: “Scottish Water is committed to working with stakeholders on our short-term investment and in developing options for Seafield WWTW in the long-term.”

Ben Macpherson, constituency MSP and Chair of the Seafield Stakeholder Group welcomed the planned Scottish Water investment at Seafield WWTW.

He said: “I very much welcome this £10 million of major investment by Scottish Water to upgrade the Seafield Waste Water Treatment Works and minimise odour issues in the area.

“I pay tribute to all of the Stakeholder Group for helping to secure this investment, and particularly the local Community Council and Residents’ Association who, along with others including myself, have campaigned for improvements over several years.

“Following the recent independent review of the site and surrounding networks, I’m pleased that Scottish Water is implementing the recommendations and that our Stakeholder Group has made a positive impact.

“This investment should make a meaningful difference towards addressing the odour issues that occur in Leith, and improve the performance of the Seafield Waste Water Treatment Works for the benefit of Edinburgh as a whole.”

Roseanna Cunningham, Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, said: “This latest investment from Scottish Water into our biggest waste water treatment works, is an important step in improving operational resilience and ensuring the site continues to serve the growing needs of our capital city.”

Edinburgh College students wow judges during design challenge

A group of Edinburgh College students recently wowed judges at the end of a week-long design challenge, tasking them to work alongside an Edinburgh-based design agency on a live brief for a real client.

The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) tasked students with creating a campaign to promote their new National Progression Award (NPA) in Creative Thinking to teachers and the parents and carers of pupils in Scottish secondary schools.

The students were split into seven different teams and paired with one of the design agencies involved in the project: Neish Design, Emperor, Amaze Realize, Whitespace, Union Direct, Campfire and Lewis. Each team spent a week coming up with a campaign that would best answer the project brief, before pitching their ideas to a panel of judges from the SQA.

Team Union Direct, made up of HND Graphic Design students Rachel Platts Smith, Gonzalo Cervilla, Balazs Hirth, Zoe Willis, Valentina Torella, and Ross McGrail were announced as the winners of this year’s competition for their ‘Creativity is possibility’ campaign that featured a number of promotional activities including a ‘box of possibilities’ that could be sent to secondary schools across the country.

The winning team has been invited to a meeting with representatives from the SQA, where they will discuss in more detail how their ideas will be used to take the promotional campaign forward.

Team Union Direct spokesperson and Edinburgh College student Rachel Platts Smith said: “We are very proud to be named the winners of this year’s competition.

“The key to our success was definitely teamwork – we all worked together right from the very start and knew how we wanted our concept to look and were all driven to make that idea work.

“We would like to thank our mentors at Union Direct who were there every step of the way and made this experience all the more enjoyable – we couldn’t have done it without them.”

Graphic Design lecturer Helena Good said: “The competition this year was outstanding, each and every one of our students should be very proud of their achievements. It’s so pleasing to see the excellent standard of work produced by our students – they are a credit to the College.

“The one-week design project gives students the opportunity to work on a live brief alongside an Edinburgh-based design agency, before presenting to a real client – providing them with an insight into what it’s like to work in this industry in the real world.”

Fiona Robertson, SQA Chief Executive said: “Creativity is a hugely important skill and that’s why the NPA in Creative Thinking is such an exciting development. I am thankful to all the students from Edinburgh College who provided an incredible range of ideas for promoting the qualification.”

Martin Boyle, Head of creative, Hospitality, and Sport at SQA, added: “It was a joy to ‘be the client’ for the HND Visual Communication students’ project. It was thrilling to see the students tackle the brief with such commitment, and creativity.

“The whole project has been a fantastic example of engaging creative education in practice, bringing together the college, students and industry to create something special.

“Of course, this isn’t just a theoretical exercise. We hope to be in a position to be able offer our NPA in Creative Thinking to schools and colleges across the country, and utilise the work of team Union Direct in our activities.

“The standard of work the students presented was genuinely exceptional. I look forward to hearing more about their progress, and I’m confident that there are some real stars in the making on the course.”