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Directorates
Chief Executive's Office
Under the leadership of the CEO, the Chief Executive’s directorate works to ensure that SFC is a high performing, well governed and effective organisation.
Corporate Services
The Corporate Services Directorate enhances SFC’s analytical capabilities, briefings, and operational policy development capacity across areas of interest for the whole organisation.
The Directorate undertakes the collection and analysis of data from colleges and universities and the publication of SFC’s annual programme of statistical publications.
Through its External Affairs function, the Directorate works with all SFC’s principal stakeholders. These include the Scottish Government; the Scottish Parliament and the representative bodies for colleges and universities (Colleges Scotland and Universities Scotland).
The Directorate also covers Human Resources and Transformation, and Corporate Governance which encompasses corporate performance, risk management, information governance and secretariat functions for the Board.
Finance
The Finance Directorate is responsible for providing financial advice to teams across SFC, the Finance Committee and the Board, to the Scottish Government and to universities and colleges through our finance business partners. We manage the budget for SFC; ensure this is invested efficiently and effectively to deliver SFC’s strategic priorities; with accurate and timely payments to fund universities and colleges; and supported by a robust finance system, processes and controls.
We produce financial analysis and reporting on SFC’s overall budget to fund the tertiary system and its financial health, including to our Executive Team, Finance Committee, Board and Scottish Government, as well as annual publications.
We work closely with Institutional Performance to advise on the finances of institutions at higher levels of engagement under the Outcomes Framework.
The Directorate also has responsibility for skills and economic recovery and for SFC’s statutory requirement to secure provision for assessing and enhancing the quality of further and higher education in Scotland.
Institutional Performance
The Institutional Performance Directorate is responsible for leading engagement with institutions as part of the assurance model that sets SFC’s expectations for delivery against the SFC Outcomes Framework, providing enhanced support to other teams across SFC in supporting sectoral and individual institutional transformation.
The Directorate is also responsible for policy in a range of areas focused on delivering against our statutory duties and strategic priorities, including: the assurance of institutional governance and fair work; protecting student interests; fair access; equality and securing the provision of high quality learning and teaching through Scotland’s Tertiary Quality Enhancement Framework
Investment and Research
The Investment and Research Directorate has responsibility for managing SFC’s investments across teaching, research and innovation, and capital. It has specific responsibility for managing the annual allocations and distribution of funding to colleges and universities.
The Directorate leads SFC’s involvement in the Research Excellence Framework, a period assessment of research quality in universities across the UK that drives the allocation of SFC’s investment in universities’ research funding. The next Research Excellence Framework (REF) assessment takes place in 2029.
The directorate is also responsible for SFC’s work in innovation where its investments create partnerships between academics and businesses. They include Scotland’s Innovation Centres, and Interface, an SFC-funded organisation that matches businesses’ need for innovation with relevant academic expertise.
Strategic Transformation and skills
The Strategic Transformation and Skills Directorate is responsible for the delivery of the transformation programme that will lead to the successful transfer of national training programmes, including apprenticeships, from Skills Development Scotland (SDS) to a redesigned SFC. The transformation also includes the implementation of new duties given to SFC by the Tertiary Education and Training Act.
The Directorate also has responsibility for skills, work-based learning (including apprenticeships) and coherent provision.