Principal & Chief Executive
Dumfries and Galloway College

I would like to welcome you to this website and to thank you for your interest in the position of Principal/Chief Executive of Dumfries and Galloway College. We are seeking to appoint an exceptional leader to maintain our successful progress towards the achievement of a challenging strategic vision.

The College currently delivers its curriculum from two Campuses in the beautiful South West of Scotland with the main site in Dumfries on the Crichton Campus and the second in the West of the region in Stranraer, 75 miles away. While much of the curriculum is common across both campuses, responding and delivering to the needs of diverse and dispersed rural communities is a key challenge for our operation. The area we serve covers 2,400square miles with all the opportunities and challenges that brings. As the largest provider on the multi institutional Crichton Campus the College has excellent partnerships with the University of the South West of Scotland, the University of Glasgow the Open University and Scottish Agriculture College. This unique partnership extends beyond collaborative curriculum planning and effective articulation agreements with the college also hosting a number of shared services in our new building, including the Campus library.

Despite the challenging context of public sector funding in 2010-11 the College had another successful year and met all targets for student recruitment, retention and achievement. The challenges for 2011-12, and beyond are even greater and have resulted in some very difficult decisions being made regarding the use of reduced funding to ensure that our commitment to delivering the best for the people of Dumfries and Galloway is met.

The Further Education Sector in Scotland is entering a period of great change with a move towards regionalisation and a reduction in the number of College Boards. Dumfries and Galloway College will be one of the regional colleges and we will continue to play an important part in responding to the region’s and nation’s economic and social strategy. Our progress to date has been based upon an effective relationship between the Board of Management and the Principal and Senior Management team We believe this has given us a firm foundation for the future which we hope you can see from the following information.

Please take the time to read through this website and find out more about the role and our College. I hope this provides you with all the information you require and look forward to receiving your application.

Yours sincerely

Russel Griggs OBE
Chairman