University news

To honour the long-standing intellectual, academic and medical ties that bind McGill University in Canada to the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, McGill awarded an honorary doctorate to Professor Anton Muscatelli, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Glasgow, and to Professor Sir Timothy O'Shea, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh.

With educational links to McGill reaching back 200 years, the universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh can be seen, in a way, as being responsible for the birth of McGill University. Indeed, because so many of the founders and early principals of McGill university and its medical school, including James McGill himself, studied at either the University of Glasgow or the University of Edinburgh, these institutions could be considered McGill's founding sisters. The connections between the universities have been further strengthened over the years through a shared commitment to the internationalization of education, expressed through a host of research collaborations and student exchanges.

Professor Anton Muscatelli, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Glasgow said, "James McGill, the founder of McGill, studied at Glasgow in the 1750s and we have maintained strong and enduring connections with McGill over the past two and a half centuries. There are more than 100 Canadian students currently studying with us at Glasgow, adding greatly to the campus life and student experience. This is a tremendous honour not just for me personally, but also for the community of the University of Glasgow."

Prior to the ceremony, Principals Muscatelli and O'Shea unveiled three commemorative benches in the James Garden on the McGill campus. The benches are made of Scottish granite that was quarried near Aberdeen. Each bench is made of three pieces of granite, representing the three universities, joined together in three different designs that are similar yet unique. Replicas of the three Scottish stone benches, made of Quebec granite, will be placed on a ‘mirror' site at Macdonald College, as a complement to the installation on the main campus.

"James McGill was motivated to found this university by a sense of curiosity and a spirit of social responsibility instilled in him as a young man in Scotland," said Professor Heather Munroe-Blum, McGill's Principal and Vice-Chancellor. "Today, this same spirit is to be found in the active student exchanges and research collaborations that build on the foundational ties between McGill and the esteemed sister universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. As a fitting finale to McGill's 190th anniversary celebrations, I am delighted to award honorary doctorates to these distinguished academic leaders and international colleagues, Professors Muscatelli and O'Shea."

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First published: 1 June 2012