About the Book

In 1901 Andrew Carnegie founded an educational trust in Scotland to make its universities more available to the country’s ‘deserving and qualified youth’, to improve their status, and to extend research. The result was the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, which transformed university education in Scotland and delivered the democratic intellect that for centuries was merely a Scottish aspiration. Looking back over 125 years, this is its story.

It is a record of thousands of lives changed, opportunities seized and horizons widened. The book traces the evolution of the university sector through a period of unprecedented expansion and the challenges that ‘ancient’ institutions faced when meeting modern demands. It is a chronicle of civic society, elite interests and conservative forces, but it is also an account of radical reform, progressive intent and the remaining traces of independence in a sector increasingly directed by the state. Catriona Macdonald offers critical reflections on the legacy left by a rich man who sought to use his wealth for ‘the good of the people’ and the Trust that, through 125 years of dramatic changes, endeavoured to make his vision a reality.