In early 2020, Dundee and Angus College was hit by a devastating cyberattack, which wiped out 95 per cent of its services and destroyed the work of students and staff. The rapid and intelligent reaction of the college’s quality team was absolutely central to recovery.

First, the team contacted awarding bodies and established a regular and supportive dialogue. It then worked with curriculum teams across the college to quantify the extent of the missing and unmarked candidate work, and to create viable solutions.

Where lost work could not be replicated, the quality team developed innovative solutions and secured Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA) endorsement for their plans to provide learners with results based on holistic professional judgements.

South Eastern Regional College wins at FE Awards 2021

Buxton and Leek College win at the Tes FE Awards 2021

London South East Colleges wins at the FE awards 2021

The pandemic and subsequent lockdown raised further challenges, not just for Dundee and Angus College but for every college across Scotland. The quality team rose to the occasion and developed a model, with approval from the SQA, for circumstance assessment and certification to be deployed across the country. The model was drafted in days, and allowed colleges to employ a holistic approach to assess student performance and outcomes.

Lead judge Marie-Thérèse McGivern said: “The quality team at Dundee and Angus College navigated two major challenges in the past year - a cyberattack, which affected every part of the college, and then Covid.

“It placed the future of its students at the heart of its solutions, and ensured their progression and success. In doing so, it created tools for all Scottish colleges to use.”