The following are recommendations to support the college sector to improve rates of learners' successful completion, particularly at further education (FE) level.

Colleges

Colleges should:

• take steps to respond to the impact of the changing nature of the college learner population on successful completion rates
• strengthen staff engagement in self-evaluation and the use of learner feedback to support improvement
• work to reduce rates of learner withdrawal from full-time programmes
• address the significant variation in, and in some cases very low rates of, learner attainment across a number of individual colleges and subject areas

Scottish Funding Council (SFC)

SFC should build on its work in supporting colleges to address the widening gap in attainment for learners from key groups. This includes care-experienced learners, learners from an ethnic minority background, learners with a disability, and younger learners.

They should work with colleges to help them to address the impact of the significant increase in the number of learners who require additional support, including mental health and wellbeing.

Scottish Government

The Scottish Government should continue to ensure that the right support is available for learners who need it. This will enable them to complete their college programmes.

Scottish Government, SFC and colleges should ensure clear and accessible information for learners on the financial support available for those who need it to enable them to continue with college education.