Announcing the appointments, Mr Wallace, Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning said: 'I'm very pleased to welcome these new members. Their calibre and expertise is high, and I'm sure they will make a valuable contribution to the work of SHEFC.'

Professor Peter Holmes has held the post of Vice-Principal (Research) at the University for the past 5 years, where he has had a key role in the development and implementation of the University Research Strategy. He led the University team which formulated the extremely successful submission for the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise. During his time as Vice-Principal there has been a major increase in income from external Research Grants and Contracts. As an internationally recognised research scientist he has over 200 scientific publications to his name in the field of veterinary physiology and parasitology.

Mr Wallace continued: 'Higher education in Scotland is much valued and has an excellent worldwide reputation ﾖ it helps individuals fulfil their potential and also plays a vital role in the Executive's key aim of growing the economy.

'The work of SHEFC is crucial in enabling and supporting higher education to meet current challenges and to continue to perform strongly, and I'm pleased we have such able members of the Council.'

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First published: 29 August 2003