The network was hailed as “an excellent example of collaboration within the FE sector and with other sectors to provide the very best access to all students”. The project involves the Scottish Office, Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Development Agency, the four local universities and the Scottish Council for Educational Technology.

Ten colleges will have a broadband electronic connection enabling them to offer online learning, video-conferencing and access to information. Lifelong learning centres, with 24-hour direct access to the network, will be opened in shopping malls and libraries.

Tom Wilson, principal of Glasgow College of Building and Printing, who chairs the network, said it was a model for the Scottish University for Industry, “so that the many and not the few will be able to participate in lifelong learning”.