College sector is vital to Scotland as AI power grows - Sue Webber

​The speed with which the technology can be used to complete jobs which would have taken humans hours or days to complete is truly breathtaking and will change the nature of work in ways which could not have been imagined even just a year ago.

The impact on office-based working could be enormous, rendering call centres redundant and even with the potential to wipe out the new growth industry of software engineering because AI-based technology can write complex codes in seconds.

What it can’t do is replicate human skills. It can’t make you a lovely dinner, tile your bathroom, fix the potholes in your street ─ mind you, neither can Edinburgh Council ─ or look after your children or elderly parents.

There will always be demand for skilled people providing real services and so there will be a constant need for the colleges which equip the workforces of tomorrow with the abilities from which we all benefit.

The SNP has long downplayed the vital importance of the college sector and in September this year Audit Scotland reported Scottish Government funding had fallen by 8.5 per cent in real terms between 2021/22 and 2023/24 while costs rose. The umbrella association Colleges Scotland believes overall revenue support is down from £732.8m in 2021/22 to £658.6m this year, a ten per cent drop.

Yet new research from Strathclyde University’s Fraser of Allander Institute suggests college graduates will collectively boost the Scottish economy by £52 billion over their 40-year working lives, each one creating an extra £72,000 benefit because of the skills they learnt.

Apart from the 10,700 people employed full-time in colleges and the 4400 jobs the sector indirectly supports, college graduates will support the equivalent of another 203,000 full-time jobs.

The sector’s importance will only grow, and I was delighted to attend West Lothian College’s graduation ceremony on Saturday to see the next generation of engineers, health professionals and carers passing through, 220 of them.

All ages were represented, illustrating the importance of retraining while at work, and the Flexible Workforce Development Fund which helps employers access courses for their staff should be expanded.

Not all go straight into work, but will finish their studies at university and with a strong grounding in practical training which pure university students might not have.

The prize for Outstanding Student went to HND Business graduate Mark Comyns who found his feet at college, started his own business during his studies and will go into the third year of a Napier University business degree.

Cyber Security HND graduates also go straight into third year at Napier and judging by the Covid Inquiry the SNP seems to value keeping data beyond prying eyes.

Yesterday it was the turn of Edinburgh College’s creative industries’ graduates and the potential misuse of AI is something of which they will be keenly aware. But one way to guard against the dangers is a workforce well trained with practical skills, and investment in our colleges has never been more vital.

Sue Webber is a Scottish Conservative MSP for Lothian