Palace date for principal
College head gets the OBE
Forth Valley College Principal Ken Thomson has been presented with his OBE at a Buckingham Palace ceremony.
Dr Thomson received the honour from Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, for services to education, economic development and the communities of central Scotland.
He was joined at the ceremony by his wife Jane, eldest son Gregor and daughter Jenny. Son Rory unfortunately couldn’t make it through illness.
The principal, who took over the role in 2013, felt the award was an endorsement of the efforts made by staff at FVC to promote a `making learning work’ ethos. It is aimed at creating a skilled workforce for the future.
Under his leadership, the college won the Association of Colleges Beacon award for innovation in further education for 2014. Since then FVC has become multi-award winners for best practice in several areas from a number of institutions.
Dr Thomson was awarded the Stirling Council provost’s civic award in the academic category in 2016 and has been active in raising the profile of the college.
He has also worked on a number of projects including the Schools College Opportunities to Succeed programme which has helped hundreds of fourthyear school pupils across Forth Valley make career defining decisions helping them into further education courses.
FVC board of management chair Ross Martin said: “The forthcoming opening of our Falkirk HQ, completing our multi-site campus, is a physical reminder of Ken’s presence and stature as our principal. Of course, it’s what happens inside - and increasingly outside - our wonderful buildings and state-of-the art facilities which matters most to our students, staff and industrial partners and Ken’s honour is rightful recognition of his role in leading the college’s efforts in that regard.”
President of Forth Valley Student Association Andrew Smirthwaite said: “Ken is nothing but dedicated to his role here at the college which is why he is deserving of the accolade. He works with us at the association to ensure we have the biggest impact for our students and advises us to ensure we target the correct people for the needs of the students.”