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This month, we’re excited to spotlight Victoria Underwood, Director of Operations and Strategic Planning at CDN.
Vicky plays a key role in driving CDN’s strategy and supporting our work across Scotland’s colleges and the wider tertiary sector. Her responsibilities span delivery and enhancement activities, insights, innovation, planning, marketing, and business development. She is also a board member of The Promise Scotland, a cause she is deeply passionate about alongside her work in the college sector.
In her latest blog post, 'Looking Ahead Together: Our Priorities for 2025-26', Vicky reflects on the start of the academic year and highlights how CDN is supporting colleges with practical tools, collaborative programmes, and tailored guidance to enhance learning, teaching, and student experience.
Vicky introduces this month’s Update:
"Welcome to this month’s edition of CDN News! We’re excited to bring you another packed update celebrating innovation, talent, and professional growth across Scotland’s college sector.
In this edition, we’re announcing the shortlist for the CDN College Awards 2025, highlighting outstanding achievements across colleges, staff, and learners. We also spotlight CDN leadership programmes to support colleagues at every stage of their career, and introduce key CDN LearnOnline resources, including Understanding Colleges Today and the Tertiary Self-Evaluation Toolkit.
Plus, don’t miss upcoming events like Exploring the Manosphere and Write On! – Stirling Edition, offering reflection, discussion, and hands-on learning opportunities.
There’s so much to explore - dive in and see how you can get involved"
If you have any questions related to Vicky's work, please feel free to reach out to her at: victoria.underwood@cdn.ac.uk
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CDN College Awards 2025 – Shortlist Announced
We are delighted to announce the shortlist for the CDN College Awards 2025!
Proudly delivered by CDN and supported by Title Sponsor SQA, the Awards celebrate the talent, skills, and achievements of colleges, their staff, and learners. They highlight the innovation and excellence happening across Scotland’s college sector.
This year, we received a record-breaking 199 submissions, showcasing the outstanding work being done in colleges across the country. We want to thank everyone who entered and congratulate all those who have made it onto this year’s shortlist – your achievements truly deserve to be celebrated!
View College Awards Shortlist
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Lead with Confidence - Start Your Next Chapter
From aspiring managers to seasoned executives, CDN offers leadership programmes that inspire, challenge, and equip leaders at every stage of their career.
Registration is now open for this year’s CDN Executive Leadership Series. Designed for current and aspiring college executives, it features specialised workshops, practical skill-building, and collaborative learning opportunities.
Places are also available on our highly regarded Emerging Leaders (for aspiring and practising managers) and Strategic Leaders programmes (for those progressing toward or currently in senior leadership), the next cohort starts in January.
View Leadership Programmes
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Understanding Colleges Today –
Your guide to Scotland’s colleges
Starting a new role - or refreshing your knowledge - in the college sector can feel overwhelming. Understanding Colleges Today is a free online course on CDN LearnOnline that covers the essentials of working in Scotland’s colleges.
Through interactive activities, videos, and reflection, you’ll explore:
- The College Landscape – Scotland’s colleges and key organisations
- Finance Unplugged – funding, budgets, and financial management
- EDI Unpacked – practical approaches
- People, Roles and Curriculum – college structures and curriculum design
- College Systems and Reflection – infrastructure and self-reflection exercises
The course is flexible, so you can work through it step by step or revisit content anytime.
Access it on CDN LearnOnline
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Tertiary Self-Evaluation Toolkit –
Supporting Quality Across Scotland’s Colleges
CDN’s Tertiary Self-Evaluation Toolkit (TSET) is a free online resource on CDN LearnOnline that helps colleges with self-evaluation and creating Self-Evaluation and Action Plans (SEAPs).
Through interactive tools, podcasts, and case studies, you’ll explore:
- The Self-Evaluation Journey – step-by-step guidance and practical examples
- Sector Insights – real-world case studies from Scottish colleges
- Guidance and Resources – links to key national materials
- Embedding Evaluation – tips on data, engagement, and reflection
The toolkit is flexible, so you can work through it step by step or revisit content anytime.
Explore it on CDN LearnOnline
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Exploring the Manosphere: Online Masculinities in Tertiary Education
Tuesday 11 November 2025
(1100-1300) Online
Join colleagues from across Scotland’s colleges to explore the manosphere - an online space shaping ideas of masculinity - and its impact on gender equality, student wellbeing, and violence prevention.
Featuring Alan Bissett and organisations including White Ribbon Scotland, Zero Tolerance, and Prevent Scotland, this interactive session invites reflection, discussion, and practical insights for anyone in student support, curriculum, policy, or leadership.
Supported by West College Scotland.
Find out more and register
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Write On! – Stirling Edition
Friday 30 January 2026
(0900–1530) Jisc Innovation Hub, University of Stirling
Pack your notebook, pen, laptop, and that project you’ve been meaning to finish - Write On! is back.
Enjoy dedicated writing blocks, explore tech in the Innovations Lab, and connect with fellow college staff in a productive, creative day designed to get your ideas flowing.
Hear from recent 2025 participant:
“CDN’s Write On Session in August 2025 was a fantastically useful and invigorating event. I finished complex projects, made valuable connections, and was thoroughly inspired by the speaker.”
Find out more and register
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Exploring the Potential of Generative AI in Teaching and Learning
Several Dates October–December 2025 Online
We’re excited to announce a new series of online events focused on Generative AI (GenAI) and its impact on education. Running from October through December, these sessions will support practitioners to understand, apply, and critically engage with AI in their teaching and assessment practices.
View online here
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Hi everyone,
I hope you’ve all settled into the new academic year. It’s been my pleasure this month to attend a number of college graduations and see the culmination of the hard work of students and those that teach and support them celebrated.
It’s been a busy month here at CDN, and we were delighted to announce the shortlist for this year’s College Awards – we look forward to celebrating with many of you at the December event.
Behind the scenes, we’re putting the finishing touches on our new website and companion guide, part of the #YourCDN campaign, designed to make it easier to access events, resources, and networks. Look out for our new look next month!
We also had fantastic results from this year’s six-week #ChooseCollege campaign, led by CDN’s Marketing and Communications Network. The campaign raised awareness of Scotland’s colleges, reaching 1 million people and generating 12.9 million social impressions, alongside strong local and national coverage. A real sector-wide collaborative effort. Thank you to everyone who helped share the message!
We’ve also received an outstanding response to Elevate LT, our new funded professional learning programme developed with TeachingHOW2s. Designed to support and enhance teaching practice across Scotland’s colleges, the programme will run throughout the 2025–26 academic year, starting in October, with an incredible intake, 18 colleges have already expressed interest, with more in the final stages of discussion.
Also this month, in partnership with Colleges Scotland, we successfully delivered two Effective Political Engagement and Influencing for College Leaders events. Led by Andrew Henderson at Pinsent Masons, these masterclasses provided Principals, Vice Principals, Board Members, and Communications Leaders with practical strategies to influence policy and amplify their college’s voice.
As always, you can find all of our upcoming activities at cdn.ac.uk, on social media, and in our regular newsletters.
Warm regards,
Marie Hendry
Chief Executive, CDN
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