August 2020

Dear Colleague

Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) Edinburgh Campus

We hope you are keeping well in these unusual times.  Change has been inevitable; blended learning, one-way systems, social distancing, and virtual open events but what hasn’t changed is the variety of courses we are able to offer and the breadth of specialist knowledge at Scotland’s Rural College.

While we are unable to post out copies of our 2021 prospectus you can still download the most current edition Download 2021 prospectus and visit our website for more course information https://ww1.sruc.ac.uk/

As visits to the campus are not possible at the moment, we will continue to hold live virtual open days.  These events allow the pupils to hear directly from the course lecturers and have their questions answered during the live events.  We are using Microsoft Teams live events to facilitate these activities. They allows pupils to interact by typing questions in a Q&A box to college staff while remaining anonymous to other attendees. Upcoming open days are as follows:

• Monday 31^stAugust, 2pmVirtual Agriculture Open Day
• Tuesday 1st September, 1pm:Virtual Open Day Horticulture and Garden Design
• Tuesday 1st September, 3pm:Virtual Open Day Horticulture Plantsmanship
• Wednesday 2nd September, 10am: Virtual Open Day Applied Animal Science
• Thursday 3rd September, 2.30pm: Virtual Open Day Environmental Management and Conservation Management
• Tuesday 8th September, 2pm:Virtual Open Day Rural Business Management

If a pupil would like to join an open day event, they can book via www.sruc.ac.uk/opendays. A link to join the event will be emailed to them and can also be found on our Facebook and Flipgrid pages.

If you would like to request a live event for your school on any of the subjects that we offer across our 6 campuses please complete the our enquiry form, which can be found at www.sruc.ac.uk/requestandconnect and someone will be in touch to make arrangements with you and your school.

We can also facilitate events covering topics such as what support is available at SRUC and what it is like to be a student at SRUC.  If there are other areas you would like us to cover please do get in touch via www.sruc.ac.uk/requestandconnect and we will make every effort to facilitate that for you.

We will also be in touch shortly regarding on-line events specifically for school career guidance staff, where we will offer an overall view of the campus and our course offerings.

We have also collated a number of resources on our SRUC Edinburgh Flipgrid which you and your pupils may find useful, and as always please visit our social media for the most up do date campus information.

Our term will start back on 28th September, so if you have pupils who are considering alternatives please encourage them to have a look at the spaces still available.

In a time of uncertainty, it is reassuring to know the significance of education in the land-based sector. In 2018, the natural economy contributed £29.1 billion gross value added (GVA) to the Scottish economy – more than a fifth of its total – and employed 290,100 people. This equates to 11 per cent of all employment across Scotland.

In these difficult times, this sector continues to offer an abundance of opportunities and employment for our young people.

I hope you found this update useful. Please feel free to get in touch directly if you would like to discuss anything in more detail.