About the Department

The Department of Scottish Literature was established in 1971, a unique initiative which followed Glasgow University’s recognition that the subject demanded specific focus and investment. The Department of Scottish Literature was incorporated in the confederal School of English and Scottish Language and Literature in 1996 for purposes of collaboration in teaching and research, but it remains an autonomous unit within the Faculty of Arts.  Thus while other universities include Scottish literature as a component of the English literature curricula, we remain the only Department of Scottish Literature in the world. However, we work closely with our SESLL partners and with colleagues in related disciplines.

The Department was founded with the distinguished poet, critic and dramatist Alexander Scott as first Head of Department. In 1995, further demonstrating its support for the development of the Department, the University appointed Professor Douglas Gifford FRSE to the first-ever established Chair in Scottish Literature, a position now held by Professor Alan Riach. The Head of Department is Dr Gerry Carruthers.

The School of English and Scottish Language and Literature is delighted with our excellent results in RAE 2008.  Not only did we return the largest number of active researchers in Scotland -- we submitted all our staff -- and the third largest in the UK, but 70% of our research was rated as either "world-leading" (35%) or"internationally excellent" (35%).  Using various measures of research achievement, we are ranked between third and eighth in the UK.  This result demonstrates our status as a major institution for the study of English and Scottish language and literature, and builds on our achievement of a 5*-rating in RAE 2001. Full details of the results are available on the RAE website.

In the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise, the School achieved the highest possible grades: "Excellent" and 5*.