PRINCIPAL PAUL LITTLE RECEIVES CBE FOR OUTSTANDING SERVICES TO EDUCATION
The Principal and CEO of City of Glasgow College, Dr Paul Little, has been awarded a CBE for services to education. He recently received his award at an Investiture event in Windsor with the award being formally presented by HRH Princess Royal in the Grand Reception Room at Windsor Castle.
Principal Little CBE said:
“I am very humbled and deeply honoured to receive this recognition. During my 37 years in further and higher education, I have learnt from and worked with many incredibly talented and hard-working colleagues, here at City and its legacy colleges as well as at colleges in Northern Ireland.
“Together, we have collectively built careers and enhanced many lives. In that sense, therefore, although this is bestowed as a personal honour, I very much see it as a shared recognition of all the colleges I have worked at and all the great colleagues with whom I have worked alongside.
In an educational career spanning over 35 years, beginning as a teacher, before becoming a lecturer, senior lecturer, and Head of School, Paul Little subsequently secured an appointment to his first college Principal post in 2000. Since then, he has led five separate colleges, in which his contributions to the people and the communities he serves have been transformative.
Beginning in Northern Ireland, Paul spent seven years as Principal of Limavady and then Armagh Colleges, turning around what were under-performing institutions such that they became amongst the highest performing within Northern Ireland’s further and higher education sector: the colleges reached, respectively, third and first place in the NI college rankings, while Armagh secured the prestigious Queens Anniversary Award, becoming the first college in Northern Ireland to do so.
That success led to Paul being asked to lead the merger of three separate colleges into what became Southern Regional College. Here, he excelled in a role requiring excellent leadership, skilfully and sensitively discharged in an environment beset by sectarian division, geographical isolation, urban and rural inequality – and not least the background of two previously unresolved merger attempts. His delicate management of the merger did much to alleviate the tension in the two communities and led to a successful single college, itself a significant contribution to peacebuilding.
After successfully creating the second largest educational institution in Northern Ireland, Paul arrived in Glasgow in 2007 to become Principal and Chief Executive of the then Central College. Here, he drew on the skills he developed in Northern Ireland to lead the complex - and sometimes contentious - strategic and operational planning of another merger, this time creating Scotland’s largest college in 2010.
This was a merger of unprecedented scale, the trailblazer for the Scottish Government’s regionalisation of the country’s college sector, and Paul’s inspirational leadership, drive and commitment, and his unceasing focus on the value the new college would deliver to Glasgow’s learners and employers, saw the merger delivered on time and to budget. Critically, Paul maintained staff engagement and ensured students suffered no disruption to their learning.
Ten years on, the College has established itself as Scotland’s Super College. City of Glasgow College is driving economic growth in Glasgow – creating an estimated £2bn boost for the local economy over eight years – while ensuring that the growth is inclusive and reaches Greater Glasgow’s more disadvantaged communities.
Principal Little also has a lifelong commitment to the maritime sector. Alongside service as a volunteer search and rescue officer with HM Coastguard for 30 years (he was awarded HM Coastguard Search and Rescue Medals in both 2000 and 2004), last year he was appointed an Honorary Captain in the Royal Navy and is the former Chair of the UK Government’s Shipbuilding Skills Task Force.