Ayrshire College, United Kingdom

Connecting Communities

Before the word Covid had been heard of, Senior Management at Ayrshire College identified that our college had a role to play bringing people together and connecting our community. We came up with the concept of Connecting Communities, a fully sustainable project driven by strategic planning and decision-making to address the inequality and to improve the quality of life for those in our community. The project had five key underpinning principles, they were;

1. Deliver an initiative that would empower staff and students to come up with creative solutions to engage with employers and connect with our communities.
2. Design a sustainable programme that would address equality and engage with all ages, abilities and interests.
3. Increase collaboration and engagement with our industry contacts to ensure we are preparing our staff and students appropriately for work.
4. Engage with local communities to maximise use of our facility and drive inclusion and local engagement.
5. Promote health (both mental and physical) and wellbeing to everyone within our community.

Top 3 Learnings

1. Hard work comes before success.
2. Awards are good but rewards are better.
3. Community engagement engenders civic pride.