Glasgow Colleges Move Forward with Merger Plan
01 August 2012
The Boards of Management of Anniesland, Cardonald and Langside colleges are to move forward with plans to merge following successful financial and legal due diligence exercises.
At a joint meeting on Monday, July, 30th the individual College Boards agreed to push ahead with plans to create a new college for south and west Glasgow.
Mark Toma, chairman of the Cardonald Board of Management, said: "We are delighted at the prospect of merging with Anniesland and Langside. We are three strong colleges and three successful colleges and as a unit we will be a stronger force in education in Scotland."
Anniesland chairman, Ken MacAldowie, commented: "If there were any two colleges that we would want to merge with, then it would be Cardonald and Langside. We work well together and we will continue to work well together to take forward this proposal and produce the best outcome for our learners, staff and stakeholders."
Chair of Langside Board of Management, Brian Keegan, added: "We are absolutely delighted to move forward with this. Our aim is that it will broaden the opportunities for our learners and staff, and enable us to contribute more to our stakeholders and communities."
The legal due diligence was conducted by the legal firm Anderson Strathern, and the financial due diligence by the chartered accountants Scott-Moncrieff. Both firms confirmed that there were no legal or financial obstacles to the proposed merger.
Murray McCall, a partner at Anderson Strathern, said: "This has been by far the most straightforward college merger proposal that we have dealt with. It is a tribute to the management and staff at all three colleges that we have got to this stage so quickly and it bodes well for the future of the proposed new college."
The three colleges, which serve the south and west of Glasgow and have a combined student body of approximately 30,000, began merger talks earlier this year in response to the Scottish Government's reform agenda for further education in Scotland.
A full internal and external consultation on the proposed merger will be launched on August 27th and will run until November 16th.
The planned vesting date for the new college is August 2013, and the three colleges have stressed that courses will continue as normal at all three institutions during the ongoing merger process.
For further information, contact Kirsty Scott, Merger Communications Manager, on 07770 334180, or kscott@cardonald.ac.uk
