Principal's column

"The first Chancellor shall be Our most dearly beloved Mother, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother" (University Charter para 4.2).

The sad events of the past few weeks made me reach for the University calendar. There the Royal Charter announcing the birth of the University in 1967 is set out in full and it includes the words shown above, confirming the appointment of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother as our first Chancellor.

As Chancellor for ten years, Her Majesty gave the fledgling University of Dundee a great sense of pride and confidence in its own identity and ability. I am told that she also brought a rare human quality to formal occasions in Dundee and there is no doubt that her warmth and good humour made an enduring impression on a whole generation of staff and students. More recently the Queen Mother agreed to give her name to a new University research centre that will develop information technology to support older and disabled people throughout the United Kingdom. This will be an important reminder of her links with the University and, as recently as 22 March 2002, I received a note from Clarence House saying how pleased she had been to receive a progress report on the work of the centre. The University has lost a loyal friend.

The Charter also reminds us that the Chancellor is the head of the University who presides over all academic ceremonies and is president of the graduates' council. It states that "the objects of the University shall be to advance and diffuse knowledge, wisdom and understanding by teaching and research and by the example and influence of its corporate life." It seems that Royal Charters have a way of saying rather important things without resorting to the jargon of job specifications, mission statements and strategic objectives.

Following the Queen Mother, the 16th Earl of Dalhousie was Chancellor from 1977 to 1992 and his colourful ancestors included Sir Alexander Ramsay who withstood a six months siege at Dalhousie organised by King Henry IV and James (the third son of the 9th Earl of Dalhousie) who was both President of the Board of Trade and the youngest ever viceroy of India. Simon Ramsay, the 16th Earl of Dalhousie who contributed so much to our growth and development in the 1980s, combined the role of University Chancellor with his responsibilities as Lord Chamberlain to the Queen Mother and Lord Lieutenant of Angus.

Our present Chancellor, Sir James Black, has just completed ten years in office and I am delighted that he is to continue as Chancellor. Sir James is quite simply one of the world's outstanding scientists but he also has an innate sense of the social and cultural contributions of University life. There could be no better person to lead an institution committed to "advance and diffuse knowledge, wisdom and understanding".

Our first Chancellor set very high standards but they have been consistently met by her successors. She was pleased with our success and supportive of our aspirations for the future.

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