A common love of Scottish culture has been the link tying the University of Glasgow and the Canadian institution of Simon Fraser University in Vancouver for many years.

Now those ties have been knotted yet firmer with the signing of a student exchange agreement between the two universities. After several visits to SFU over the past two years, the Head of the University of Glasgow's  International Office, Ian Thomson, said he was delighted that this had now come to a successful fruition.

Professor Andrew Petter, President and Vice Chancellor of SFU, was able to combine a visit to Glasgow in support of the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band which is competing at the World Pipe Band championships in Glasgow - with the formalisation of the agreement at the University of Glasgow.

“This is a very significant agreement for us. Simon Fraser University, as the name suggests, has a strong association with Scotland,” said Professor Petter.

He acknowledged that his university – just approaching its 50th birthday – was much younger than the University of Glasgow, currently in its 563rd year.

Nevertheless, there has already been close collaboration between SFU’s Centre for Scottish Studies, led by Professor Leith Davis, and a number of academics in Glasgow, particularly those involved in the Centre for Robert Burns Studies and others working in the areas of Scottish and British Romanticism.

Professor Neal Juster, Senior Vice Principal and Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Glasgow, said he hoped the agreement would offer greater opportunities for student mobility on both sides of the Atlantic.

“It will also enhance the opportunities for our students to go to a world-renowned university overseas,” he added.

Dr Kirsteen McCue, Head of Scottish Literature and Co-Director of the Centre for Robert Burns Studies, pointed out that one of the key themes of the University of Glasgow’s College of Arts is “Scottish Studies Global”.

“Here at the University of Glasgow we have one of (if not the) finest group of scholars working across the range of Scottish Studies in Literature, Celtic and Gaelic language and culture, history and archaeology. The opportunity now offered to our students to work with a group of like-minded colleagues at Simon Fraser University and for its students to come and play their part in one of Glasgow’s most exciting areas of specialism is something to celebrate,” she added.

Find out more

• Study abroad
• Recruitment and International Office
• Centre for Robert Burns Studies
• Centre for Scottish Studies

---

First published: 15 August 2014