Welcome - Professor Murray Pittock, Vice Principal and Head of the College of Arts
The College of Arts educates almost 5000 students at
any one time; its researchers are active in some 40 areas of enquiry, ranging from Archaeology to War Studies, from Translation to Arts and Media Informatics. At every level, we are dedicated to improving the experience of learning by engagement with the wider world: we address employability for our undergraduates, professional preparation for our postgraduates and knowledge exchange for our researchers. Our achievements in these areas are outstanding, and set the College apart.
As a College in a great Scottish University, founded in 1451, we are mindful of the history and traditions of Scottish higher education, which long existed to transcend narrow specialisms in the interests of creating a knowledge and analysis-based exchange of ideas for the common good consistent with the highest intellectual standards between the universities and the society of which they were a part. Universities and external social and intellectual partners alike contributed to the physical and mental worlds of the Scottish Enlightenment. We seek to recapture this ethos and to benefit from an integrated research agenda which crosses academic, cultural and industry boundaries and a recognition that excellence combined with relevance is the underpinning necessity for the funding of contemporary high quality research.
The College has been awarded 19 of the total of 41 research council Collaborative Doctoral Awards awarded to all Scottish institutions, a testament to the strengths of our partnerships with media, cultural and heritage organizations, as well as other industries. Our existing partnerships with Christies Education, Glasgow Life (featured in this newsletter), the Smithsonian and other organizations, as well as our engagement in the CREATe copyright centre and our extensive policy research, are highly distinctive. Our staff organize cutting edge exhibitions internationally seen by hundreds of thousands of visitors, and we are currently fully involved in the redevelopment of the Kelvin Hall as a shared city-university space. Our relevant projects range from 'Multi-platform Media and the Digital Challenge' through work on drug trafficking between Asia and the EU to the YourPaintings Data Enhancement Programme. The College also has a strong track record of engagement with a variety of local small to medium sized businesses including architectural practices, distilleries and technology companies, to name but a few, via the university wide First Step Awards.
Rated as one of the leading universities in the world for Arts and Humanities, the College of Arts is bringing the best of the world to Scotland and Scotland to the world for a new generation. We hope you will find this, our inaugural newsletter, an inspiring insight as to how the College of Arts has been engaging with organisations outside the University of Glasgow and we encourage you to get in touch to discuss your thoughts on working together in the future.