When Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated his first telephone, it is said, the reaction of the first dignitary to hold the receiver was ‘Amazing - but what on earth would we use it for?’ The second mayor was more farsighted. He declared : ‘I can foresee a time when every city will have one of these!’
With such canny reactions in mind, the launch last month of the largest videoconferencing network of its kind in the world, connecting all Scotland’s universities and higher education colleges was at pains to demonstrate the practical applications of this world first in technology.
Live surgery performed by Professor Cuschieri at Ninewells, a recital by students at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, a maths lecture from Paisley, a video discussion involving university chiefs at a variety of sites throughout Scotland...were among the events laid on for potential users and the media.
Established with the help of £1 million of funding from the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council, the video-conferencing network is based on a series of high speed electronic networks called Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) which connect Scottish universities. Institutions have created their own individually designed video conferencing suites - ‘not a series of Holiday Inn type clones’ as one speaker put it, at a cost of around £35,000 each. FaTMAN - the network which includes the universities of St Andrews, Abertay, Dundee and Northern College has six such sites. At the University of Dundee, what was once a kitchen and pantry in Caird House has been transformed into a smart (in all senses) videoconferencing suite available for hire.
Already it has hosted a number of events. In fact last month saw the first appointment made after a ‘remote interview’ with a candidate at Ohio State University - saving costs of around £700. Those wishing to use the suite should contact Peter Bartlett on 5575.
Commenting on the launch Professor John Sizer, chief executive of SHEFC said : ‘Scots have long been pioneers at exporting expertise across the globe. The development of our competitive position in technology assisted teaching and learning will also enable students world-wide to enjoy the benefits of a Scottish education.’

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