Hansard

We each choose for ourselves our own yardsticks of success in our lives. All Edinburgh’s universities excel in their own chosen mission. Edinburgh Napier University, for example, is an “innovative and professional university”. The Open University in Scotland, which is based in my constituency, has satisfaction results in the national student survey that other universities could only dream of. In its own words, the University of Edinburgh’s principal aim is to be

“a world-leading centre of academic excellence”.

I thank Jim Eadie for bringing his motion to the chamber. The motion gives the University of Edinburgh’s QS ranking. That is a global, research-intensive ranking that befits a global, research-intensive university. In those rankings, the University of Edinburgh stands above American behemoths such as the University of California, Berkeley, Duke University, Northwestern University and even the ivy league Brown University. [Interruption.] I think that I may have caught whatever Dennis Robertson has. A year at those universities carries a price tag of $19,000 up to $46,000. To the young person from Leith, Liberton, Dumbiedykes or Drylaw, the price tag for a year at the University of Edinburgh is zero.

League tables are not the be-all and end-all. They do not convey the full range of fondness and esteem. As Burns said,

“O wad some Power the giftie gie us

To see oursels as ithers see us!”

What do people who would not blink at spending $40,000 a year on a degree think about what is offered by the institution on our doorstep? Arcadia University, which is an elite US liberal arts college that specialises in study abroad, describes the University of Edinburgh to its students as

“one of the most distinguished research institutions in Europe.”

It says:

“The University of Edinburgh, with its ancient and modern buildings, its long and storied history, and its lively student atmosphere, is a very popular choice for study abroad students.”

The University of Southern California says:

“Edinburgh is regularly voted one of Europe’s most desirable places to live.”

That is high praise indeed from a university that is based in glamorous Los Angeles. It says:

“There is something for everyone: from museums and art galleries to a great clubbing and music scene. Over half of the city is covered by parkland and public gardens”.

Jamie Slater, who is a study abroad student from Georgetown University in Washington DC and whose blog about her experience in Edinburgh, which is starting right now, is one of the great many out there, has said:

“Before arriving in Edinburgh, I had been told it was a gorgeous and unique city and that I would absolutely love it. I’m happy to say that it has lived up to and surpassed those high expectations.”

Those universities time and again send students to Edinburgh who leave not just satisfied but having made a lifelong connection with the university, the city and the country. The comments may sometimes be more about the city than the university, but the city and the university are interlinked. The city, the nation and the university are interconnected not just through the university bringing excellent teaching and soaring research income, but through its reputation and the people whom it draws, develops and continues to be held dear by. The alumni population spans the globe, from Edinburgh Central to Central America.

I was once a young person who flirted with the University of Edinburgh. At school, it caught my eye across a crowded room full of prospectuses. I was drawn by its charms and applied, only eventually to spurn it and fall into the arms of one of its rivals. After my first degree, it looked like we might have hit it off again, but a dashing southerner came along and made me a better offer. Today, knowing about the real warmth that many feel for the University of Edinburgh, I can only look back and wonder, and perhaps reflect that

“Of all sad words of tongue or pen

The saddest are these: ‘It might have been.’”





17:24