NESCol recognised by Carers Trust Scotland

February 1, 2023

North East Scotland College has received the Going Further for Student Carers Recognition Award.

Presented by Carers Trust Scotland, the initiative rewards good practice and encourages a sustainable, holistic approach to providing tailored support to student carers.

A carer is defined by the Trust as anyone who provides unpaid emotional or practical support to someone who due to illness, disability, a mental health problem or addiction, cannot cope without their support.

There are three key principles to assessing a college’s eligibility for the award:

• Identify: Carers are being proactively identified and awareness is being raised throughout the college.
• Support: Carers are being supported to give them a fair chance to be successful in their studies.
• Report: Student carer progression is showcased and evaluation tools are used to celebrate achievements and make improvements.

NESCol provides a range of specialist support to student carers through tutors and wellbeing advisors. The College also promotes and facilitates peer support.

NESCol Principal Neil Cowie said: “Great strides have been made in building understanding of the specific needs of a very important group within our student body and in turn ensuring we have the skills, knowledge and capacity to deliver on behalf of student carers.

“The recognition by Carers Trust Scotland is very welcome and is an opportunity to underline our commitment to building on the excellent progress already made.”

NESCol is one of the largest providers of vocational education and training in Scotland. The College operates from its main Aberdeen Altens, Aberdeen City and Fraserburgh campuses as well as the Scottish Maritime Academy in Peterhead and learning centres in Ellon and Inverurie. For further information on full-time, part-time and distance learning courses currently open for applications visit www.nescol.ac.uk .