My story - Scott

A debilitating medical condition which puts a stop to a successful 20-year career doesn’t sound too positive. But Scott Anderson grabbed the opportunity it presented with both hands.After a failed attempt at University when he was 17, Dunoon man Scott had worked in the catering industry his whole adult life – much of it abroad.  But a few years ago a long-standing hip injury which required several surgeries meant he had to give that up. While receiving treatment, he stayed at home looking after his three children while his wife, Gillian, enrolled at Argyll College UHI to do a hairdressing qualification.

“It was only then that I started to realise just what Argyll College had to offer,” Scott said. “Throughout my career I’d maintained an interest in studying and had picked up a few qualifications in my own time.  One day I walked past a poster advertising Argyll College’s Administration and Information Technology course, and thought, ‘I could do that.’  I applied the next day.”

Scott successfully completed the HNC, is currently doing the HND and has now been offered a place on the BA Business Management course next year.t’s not just in academic terms that he has excelled.  Having reluctantly agreed to be the Student representative for his class when he first arrived, he was voted Best Class Representative for the whole of the University of the Highlands and Islands in 2016, and was subsequently elected HISA depute president for Argyll College 2016 - 2017.“I always try to give everything I’ve got when I take something on and I feel I’ve done that over the last couple of years, and I felt that I could give something back by getting involved in the brand-new Highlands and Islands Students’ Association.”

Scott said.“Argyll College has been absolutely fantastic for me.  It’s given me the opportunity to do something completely different with my life and I’m enjoying every minute of it.  It’s hard work but very rewarding. There is no way I could do this if I couldn’t study locally.  It’s incredible that I can progress to a degree level course while still living in a rural area and caring for my kids.  Argyll College UHI is pretty unique in that way."“A long term injury is never a positive thing, but Argyll College has helped me put my life on a new course.  I’m really looking forward to another year of being one of its students and I’m excited about what the future might hold.”