Welcome

We welcomed our first cohort of midwifery students in January, launched our second Gaelic Language Plan in May, awarded our first doctorate in September and celebrated the tenth anniversary of our student development fund in November.

The Scottish Funding Council reported that Highlands and Islands colleges are performing above the sector average in supporting students to complete their studies, we finalised the purchase of the Centre for Health Science in Inverness and we announced innovative new degrees in optometry and applied software development.

Other highlights included our involvement in New York Tartan Week and in the development of the first ever large-scale aircraft powered by variable-buoyancy propulsion. I was particularly pleased to see the introduction of our new bursary which provides support for care experienced students to participate in graduation ceremonies.

This is just a flavour of some of the developments which took place around the university partnership during 2019. I hope you enjoy reading about these developments and the many others which are featured in our annual review, which this year, for the first time, is a fully online publication.

I would like to thank all of our students, staff, alumni and partners for their support through the year. The university’s mission is to have a transformational impact on our region, its economy, its people and its communities. We can only achieve this by working together - your support and contributions are vital.

I look forward to seeing what 2020 will bring as we continue to work together to make a positive impact on our region and across the globe.

Professor Crichton Lang,
Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Highlands and Islands