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The Scottish Colleges Biotechnology Consortium (SCBC) was founded in September 2000 with support from Scottish Enterprise (SE) and the Scottish Further Education Funding Council (SFEFC). The Colleges involved in the initiative span the Scottish central belt, Falkirk, Fife, James Watt Colleges of Further and Higher Education and Bell College.
The Consortium was established in response to a predicted shortfall in highly skilled technical staff within the Scottish Biotechnology Industry in the short-medium term. In an industry that is evolving from R&D into Biomanufacturing, it was essential that bioscience students and the existing workforce had the opportunity to be trained and that biotechnology companies had a training resource available that was tailored towards their individual requirements.
SCBCs mission is a commitment to the design and provision of high quality accredited education and training which supports the needs of the biotechnology and associated industries for well-trained technical staff.
Funding in excess of £1M from SFEFC, SE and the industry has allowed significant investment to be made in facilities, staff development and course development across the 4 colleges.
SCBC reputation as an expert in the design of tailored training for biotechnology is now well established within Scotland. The Consortiums activities have recently extended to England where it is working in collaboration with companies, other training colleges and universities to support biotechnology training needs. Following a successful visit to BIO2003 in Washington DC, the Consortium hopes to be in a position to finalise a deal/contract in the next few months with a US Community College for the supply/marketing of the online and workbased training packages.
SCBC has amassed a great deal of knowledge and expertise in determining the training needs and demands of the biotechnology sector. The key criteria that the industry need satisfied in regards to training include;
- Quality of programme and delivery
- Relevance to operations of customer
- Demonstration of competence in trainees
- Flexibility
- Professional image
- Customer care
- Value for money
SCBC has developed its products and offers a service that matches the expectations of their target customers. SCBC has 3 key product areas:
- Short Courses (1-2 days)
- Work-based training initiatives
- Online Courses
Quality standards have been developed for all training programmes and every course is tailored towards the specific needs of the client, which allows courses to be highly relevant to those attending. A common approach across the member Colleges has allowed standardisation of supporting material and the development of corporate branding.
Through the development of work-based training programmes, again tailored to the customers processes, SCBC has demonstrated a competence and flexibility in approach. Courses are offered at any of the 4 College sites or within the workplace. In addition, the 20 online courses in SCBCs portfolio reduce the time that employees are away from the workplace. The development of a web-based learning management system to support customers completes a customer friendly package.
For more information on SCBC or to enquire about training packages contact Dr John Porter on or visit the website at www.scottishbiotech.org.
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