UHI Celebration - 12

Here we see the academic procession making its way past St Andrew's Cathedral on the banks of the River Ness.



The Highlands and Islands have been campaigning for a university in the region, on and off, since 1653 when the writer and translator Sir Thomas Urquhart put foreword ambitious plans from his estate at Cromarty.

In 1991 Highlands and Islands Development Board commissioned Professor Sir Graham Hills, formally Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Strathclyde, to report on how it might be achieved. His report confirmed the scope for a federal, collegiate university based on existing further education colleges, and in 1992 the University of the Highlands and Islands Project was born - leading to the creation of UHI Millennium Institute.

UHI Millennium Institute became a higher education institution in 2001, and was granted its own taught degree awarding powers in August 2008.