Dear Alumni
It is always a pleasure to greet that special - and growing - band of Dundee graduates now numbering some 27,000 throughout the world. Many of you have already made your individual mark; for others that has yet to come, but come it will in ways which are as individual and varied as you graduates are yourselves. In this edition of GC Magazine alone we hear from the Nato Secretary General, one of the UK's leading artists, and Scotland's first Advocate General - all former Dundee students.
Reading these pages it is once again apparent the warmth and affection with which many alumni hold their university. Many of you express a sincere wish to keep in touch, not just with old colleagues, tutors and lecturers but also with the exciting new developments in Dundee, enquiring about ways in which you can continue to be involved. That involvement is something we increasingly value as the University matures along with its first graduates.
Like you, I too will soon be moving on from the University when my period as Principal draws to a close in August this year. But, like many of you, I will continue to hold Dundee close to my heart and to take a keen interest in what goes on there.
My six years as Principal have been an eventful era in the University's history. No précis such as this can do justice to the richness and range of developments over those years. The following acts as no more than a taster. They began with the highly successful merger with Duncan of Jordanstone College, then the establishment of the £14 million Wellcome Trust Building; the expansion of the Medical Faculty to include a new School of Nursing and Midwifery; knighthoods over the years for no fewer than four medical scientists: Sir Naren - now Lord - Patel, Sir Alfred Cuschieri, Sir Philip Cohen and most recently Sir David Lane; the award of the prestigious Queen's Anniversary Prize for Higher Education in 1998; the creation of the Cancer Centre at Ninewells, fine performances in the research assessment exercise and the teaching quality assessment by departments ranging from accountancy and business finance, through psychology, English and civil engineering to computer science, fine art and design and TV& Imaging… The list goes on but the common factor behind this fecund and sometimes febrile success is the calibre and commitment of the university community.
One of the major challenges now facing higher education institutions is funding. As universities expand they are having to look more and more imaginatively at sources of funding in order to maintain their global competitiveness. Increasingly they are having to consider not just educational excellence but also the financing of that excellence through the commercialisation of research, through spin-out companies, consultancies and partnerships and also through international fund raising appeals for special projects.
As I disembark, and the University sails on to discovery in the 21st century, it is well equipped for a changing world - a world where information technology will play a crucial role and where the ageing population will make its own contribution to, and demands on, education and culture, science and technology. Some of these winds of change have already been forecast and much preparation has gone into tailoring sails to capture them.
There will be surprises ahead but, as her alumni know, the University of Dundee is accustomed to discovering the future.
Yours sincerely
Dr Ian Graham-Bryce
