Happy New Year! I offer my best wishes for happiness and success in 2007 to all those studying and working in the University of Glasgow, and to their families.

The University of Glasgow achieved a great deal in 2006, and I pay tribute to all who contributed to that ﾖ students, academics and all who support teaching, research and the services of the University. We can all take pride in the huge range of academic achievement ﾖ awards won, grants secured, degrees awarded, all against the highest standards of assessment and competition. Being named as one of the top 100 universities in the world has demonstrated the great strides we have made in 2006 ﾖ progress which has been underpinned by our improved financial situation.

2007 will bring its own challenges with, I am confident, new achievements and, its own high spots. Major anniversaries include the Hunterian Bicentenary and the Centenary of Lord Kelvin's death. There will be many more celebrations and events to mark not only our heritage but also today's innovations and successes. Our substantial capital programme continues, including: completion of new space for Accounting and Finance, and Computing Science; the continued modernisation and re-equipment of teaching accommodation and laboratories; and work getting under way on the Hub, leading to the integrated, student centred delivery of many student services. We continue to work with the student body and their representatives to enhance the student experience, with new approaches to recruitment and student support and modernisation of learning and teaching. The systems that support the University, particularly finance, human resources and student information management, with their underpinning information technology, will continue to improve, helping to make the administration leaner and at the same time more responsive. And the RAE will mean a great deal of work for many of us.

I believe that in the last year we have shown that together we can give focus and direction to the work of the University, empowering its abundant stock of talented people to achieve their ambitions, and adding to that pool of talent. These are the things that our Building on Excellence strategy is all about, and we need to remain true to it in 2007 if we are to navigate the inevitable pressures the year will bring.

I will do all I can to help deliver our aims, and I look forward to working with all of you to make 2007 another successful year for the University of Glasgow.

Principal, Sir Muir Russell (Principal@gla.ac.uk)

First published: 5 January 2007