The immigration system needs to be restructured to help meet Scotland\u2019s skills gaps, according to the further and higher education minister.<\/p>\n
Ben Macpherson, who was speaking at a Holyrood and Open University in Scotland fringe event at the SNP\u2019s conference in Aberdeen, said the low level of unemployment and current restraints on immigration was creating economic challenges.<\/p>\n
He said Scottish ministers would continue\u00a0engaging with the UK Government on that, adding: \u201cThere are lots of ways in which the immigration system could be restructured to allow us to have a tailored migration system for Scotland.\u201d<\/p>\n
On devolved matters, partnership and collaboration between all the different parts of the skills landscape was highlighted as key to delivering for the future.<\/p>\n
Macpherson said he was keen to work across sectors and businesses to \u201cachieve maximum success\u201d \u2013 and also pledged to work with other political parties in the Scottish Parliament to reach that goal.<\/p>\n
He pointed to the changes in the economy, both happening now and those in the future, saying that getting the skills system right would ensure Scotland benefits as much as possible. There is \u201creally significant investment\u201d coming into the country as part of the move to a net zero economy, \u201cbut we need to build capacity to maximise the potential,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
There are \u201ca lot of challenges\u201d, the minister continued, but also \u201ca huge amount of opportunity\u201d.<\/p>\n
Martin Boyle, the director of the Open University in Scotland, agreed. He called for collaboration across universities, colleges, businesses and government to deliver that opportunity, turning the ambition set out in the Withers review into tangible impacts.<\/p>\n
The Withers review, delivered by James Withers back in 2023, was commissioned by the Scottish Government to take a holistic look at Scotland\u2019s skills landscape.<\/p>\n
It called for major structural reforms in how skills development and lifelong learning is delivered to ensure Scotland keeps up with the coming economic transformation.<\/p>\n
Boyle added that it was important to \u201ctrain the person, rather than the job\u201d, highlighting how crucial it was for workers to be resilient, innovative and able to \u201cflex as industry changes\u201d.<\/p>\n
There was also a great deal of discussion about the role of colleges and schools, with Macpherson backing a more \u201cconsistent\u201d careers service to ensure more young people received better advice.<\/p>\n
Clare Adamson MSP said schools and even parents needed to \u201copen up a bit more\u201d about the different opportunities, acknowledging that it can be difficult to imagine a job you don\u2019t yet know about.<\/p>\n
She urged industry to reach out and engage so schools so children know what\u2019s out there.<\/p>\n
Macpherson, who came into the job just days before two critical reports of college cuts were published, accepted there were \u201cchallenges\u201d in the sector but added they were an \u201cimportant part of how we reach our potential\u201d.<\/p>\n
Last month, the Scottish Funding Council warned many colleges faced unsustainable losses, but cuts to balance the books would impact the quality of courses and staff numbers.<\/p>\n
And at the start of this month, Audit Scotland similarly warned of an \u201cextremely difficult financial landscape\u201d after a 20 per cent real-terms funding cut over the course of this parliament.<\/p>\n
Macpherson said ministers would \u201ccollectively work\u201d to tackle the issues raised in both reports, adding: \u201cI want to be absolutely clear that for me, the colleges are such an important aspect to the realisation of the potential that we have, they\u2019re anchored in communities, they\u2019re often organisations that enable people to have the chance that they, for whatever reason, didn\u2019t have earlier in life to be able to go onto new opportunities, whether that\u2019s further education or in the workplace.\u201d<\/p>\n
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