West College Scotland and green energy company, ScottishPower, have teamed up to provide a much-needed boost to students across the College’s three campuses – providing laptops to help students with their online studies.

With government guidance still advising limited campus learning, the ability to continue to deliver a high standard of learning is of the upmost importance, with digital access at the heart of a blended learning approach.

Building on the College’s provision last year of around 2,800 digital devices to help students engage in a virtual learning environment – funded by the Scottish Government, Scottish Funding Council and the College’s own resources – ScottishPower has now supplemented the programme with additional laptops.

The devices have been shared across the three College campuses in Greenock, Clydebank and Paisley, specifically supporting Creative Industries and Computing students who have a need for specialist software as part of their studies. 

HND Interior Architecture student, Maja Gulbicka is one of the students benefitting from ScottishPower’s laptop donation. Speaking of how the support has helped with her studies, Maja said:

“Currently I am working on a live client project in collaboration with Keppie Design Ltd where I am designing a studio for an artist, using 3DS MAX. Unfortunately, while I was working from home recently my laptop crashed, but I was able to quickly get the loan of a device from the College thanks to the laptop donations from Scottish Power. I can thankfully now complete my coursework and I finish my renders for a presentation with the client.”

David Alexander, Vice Principal at West College Scotland, thanked ScottishPower for the donation saying:

“The generous donation from ScottishPower has been a very welcome addition to our offering, allowing us to support more students, particularly those with specific digital needs for their course. We greatly appreciate this contribution from Scottish Power and the difference it’s making for our students.”

Sheila Duncan, ScottishPower’s HR Director, said: “We support a number of education and learning programmes and know only too well how important it is for young people to have the access to the right tools to be able to compete their studies." She continued,

"We’re very pleased to be able to support West College Scotland in this way and chuffed to hear we’re already having a positive impact on students like Maja. The pandemic has been a game changer for everyone and we’re proud to do our bit to help West College Scotland students move forward on their future career path.”