Professor Robert Cormack
Universities and Society:
Engaging Stakeholders
EUA Conference
Marseille, 1-3 April, 2004
Creating the University of the Highlands and Islands
Development of Universities
in Scotland
 The Ancients (14th & 15th Centuries): St
Andrews; Glasgow; Aberdeen; Edinburgh
 The ‘Chartered’ Universities (1960s):
Strathclyde; Heriot Watt; Dundee; Stirling
 The Post-1992 Universities: Abertay; Paisley;
Robert Gordon; Napier; Glasgow Caledonian
Creating the University of the Highlands and Islands
Universities and Regional
Development
‘Great economies are built on great universities’
Bill Joy, former CEO of Sun Systems
“The University of the Highlands & Islands is of
huge significance… It is much the most
important project to have been launched in the
Highlands & Islands for many decades. It is vital
therefore that UHI grows, succeeds and
prospers.”
Dr Jim Hunter, Chairman, Highlands & Islands Enterprise
Creating the University of the Highlands and Islands
Development of UHI
 1992 Barail Conference on Skye – the Hills report
 1996 Millennium Commission funding – plus
project funding from HIE, Scottish Office/Executive,
European Union and local councils
 2001 Higher Education Institution status and
recurrent funding from SHEFC
 2007 – University status?
Creating the University of the Highlands and Islands
 Fourteen
academic partners
 Further education
colleges
 Specialist colleges
 Research institutions
 Over fifty outreach
learning centres
 Using technology
to link real people in
real places
Creating the University of the Highlands and Islands
UHI and the Region
 Economic development
 Social and cultural development
 Retaining young people in the H & I
 Attracting young people to the H & I
 Providing for lifelong learning and CPD
Creating the University of the Highlands and Islands
UHI Profile (2003-04)
Students - head count
4500
Students - full-time equivalent
3729
Part-time students
42%
Mature (25 years and over)
60%
Staff on academic register
598
Turnover
Circa £23m
Creating the University of the Highlands and Islands
Madeleine Crawford
Argyll College UHI
 Previously studied with Open University
but clashed with family commitments
 Enrolled for UHI BA rural development
studies through Argyll College
 Could study locally, full-time with access
to after school care for children and also
continue with part-time work
 Studied by video-conference, joining with
students from Fort William, Oban,
Stornoway, Elgin and Orkney
Creating the University of the Highlands and Islands
Research Opportunities - One
 Environmental Science (SAMS & North
Highland College)
 Aquaculture (NAFC)
 Nuclear Decommissioning and
Environmental Remediation (NHC)
 Renewable Energy
 UHI Social Policy Network
Creating the University of the Highlands and Islands
Research Opportunities - Two
 Agronomy (Orkney College)
 Theology (Highland Theological College)
 Archaeology (Orkney College)
 Gaelic Language and Culture (Sabhal Mòr
Ostaig)
 Health (Ness Foundation)
Creating the University of the Highlands and Islands
Framework of governance
and management
Board of governors
Foundation
Principal
Executive office
Executive board
Sub-committees
Academic planning
committee
Academic council
Faculties (3)
Sub-committees
Subject networks (17)
Creating the University of the Highlands and Islands
Political Commitment
“I don’t believe anybody should be in any doubt about the
strategic importance of establishing a university in the
Highlands and Islands region of Scotland. For
opportunities for young people and for adults, but also as
a symbol of the ambition and importance of this area - not
just within Scotland, but within Europe more widely and
I’m very clear this is a flagship Scottish ambition and it’s
one that I share.”
- First Minister, Rt Hon Jack McConnell MSP, speaking at the
Convention of the Highlands & Islands, in Oban, October 2002.
Creating the University of the Highlands and Islands
A Prototype University for the
21st Century?
“Is UHI really a prototype university for the 21st century?
Very likely. It certainly represents a radical break from
higher education tradition within the British
Commonwealth and clearly challenges the prevailing
worldwide university model. Notably, it incorporates
contemporary good practice from around the world,
anticipating many of the recommendations contained in
recent higher education assessments by the Dearing
Commission (UK), the Delors Commission (UNESCO),
the OECD Thematic Review of Tertiary Education” etc
W.Saint, http://www.adeanet.org/newsletter/Vol11No1/en_9.html
Creating the University of the Highlands and Islands
EUA: Challenges
 Gaining university title
 Designing, funding and supporting the development of online
course provision
 Rationalising, consolidating and developing portfolio of
courses across the UHI partnership
 Funding to take account of provision in remote and rural areas
 Funding to build up research infrastructure
Creating the University of the Highlands and Islands
EUA: Mission and Strategy
“To create in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland a collegiate
university which will reach the highest standards and play a
pivotal role in our educational, economic, social and cultural
development.”
 Close links to H & I communities through UHI’s 14 Academic
Partners
 Close involvement in UHI affairs through the UHI Foundation
 Extensive links to similar institutions and/or areas throughout
Europe and wider afield, e.g. University of the Arctic,
universities in the Caribbean, Royal University of Bhutan
 Currently recruiting students in China and North America
Creating the University of the Highlands and Islands
EUA: Obstacles
 Single national/legal route to university title – not suited to
UHI, its structures and its mission
 Federal and collegiate structures have advantages in terms of
harnessing community strengths but difficulties in governance
and management
 Growing a university from institutions which are essentially
tertiary/vocational providers – again strengths and
weaknesses
 External stakeholders in the H & I strongly supportive but
more divided elsewhere in Scotland – ‘we have enough
universities’, ‘we need more plumbers’
Creating the University of the Highlands and Islands
EUA: Successes and Lessons
 UHI has been the creation of people in communities in the H &
I supported by political leaders – not the result of government
planning by civil servants
 Lesson – civil servants tend to be bound by existing
models and frameworks
 Not an ‘off the shelf’ organisational model
 Lesson - need to develop self-confidence in designing a
model appropriate to the special and specific circumstances
of UHI
Creating the University of the Highlands and Islands
“Overcoming
the tyranny
of geography.”
Creating the University of the Highlands and Islands