New Year's Honour for Jim Lee

We’re delighted that Jim Lee has been awarded an MBE for services to ESOL Education in Glasgow in the King’s New Year’s Honours. Jim recently retired after working for many years within Glasgow Clyde College’s CLD Department, where he was the EASE Project Co-ordinator.

The EASE Project was established to meet the demand for ESOL in Glasgow and to support ESOL learners. The wide range of partners involved (which included the three Glasgow colleges as well as housing providers, Glasgow City Council, DWP and integration networks) established an ESOL Hub, with a central point of contact for information, assessments and access to information on ESOL learning.  

As part of this the ESOL Register was created which enabled 1000s of people to access learning in a streamlined, targeted way. For some time, Jim and his team of testers were the only people coordinating ESOL level testing and advice sessions in Glasgow. He also coordinated training across the city to ensure parity in testing, and the materials and resources used, enabling learners to access the correct level, and an efficient learning pathway.  

From April 2018 to September 2023, Jim assessed 1951 individuals and supported 1214 students at Glasgow Clyde College’s Langside Campus. Behind every individual student support appointment lies a personal, and often traumatic, story and the greatest impact of his commitment to ESOL learners can be seen in the many positive examples where his student-centred approach to support has helped individuals and families to settle and thrive in Glasgow. He helped thousands of learners to feel valued and that they belonged, in what is often a hostile environment. 

Jon Vincent, Principal at Glasgow Clyde College said, “The staff and students of Glasgow Clyde College are delighted that Jim’s exceptional service has been recognised with the awarding of an MBE in the Kings New Years Honours.  Jim personified our college values and always went above and beyond to meet the needs of his students.”

Claire Donaghey, Assistant Principal: Faculty of Arts and Continuing Education commented, “I’m so delighted that Jim Lee has been recognised for the incredible work he did at Glasgow Clyde College and through his working life. Jim advocated for learners who faced incredible challenges and barriers and did all he could to ensure they were treated fairly and gained the support they required and deserved. He treated everyone with compassion and humanity – he’s a true hero of further education. I couldn’t be happier to hear that he is gaining recognition for the life-changing work he did.”