This week we celebrated a great event, in welcoming our first Pro Chancellor in Malaysia, Professor Tan Sri Dr Jemilah Mahmood, to our One-Watt community. Tan Sri Dr Jemilah will play an instrumental role in driving the ambition of the University both in Malaysia and across the region and I am sure you will join me in providing a warm welcome. You can see her video here. I am so delighted such an eminent leader and someone who shares our values will be working with us in developing the reach and reputation of the University in Asia and, of course, supporting our degree ceremonies in Malaysia.
The new Academic Year is upon us, and I know everyone has been very busy preparing our campuses and teaching environments – whether online or in-person – for our students to start or return to their studies. And I’m very pleased to see our transition to Canvas, our new Virtual Learning Environment has progressed so well and that we now pretty much have all our teaching materials for Semester one, across all our campuses, ready to go. Thank you to everyone who has worked so hard to have this in place – amongst everything else. I know our student experience will be all the better for it, and this reflects that our digital transformation is well and truly in progress.
It’s an exciting time, welcoming new students to our One-Watt Community. And in Scotland, we have been hosting some Welcome Week events in person. It has been great to see the campus come to life again – we have quite a number of students already in our various halls of residence and private accommodation providers – and others visiting to join events and meet fellow students. The warm, sunny weather at the start of this week helped, I’m sure, to showcase our campus beautifully! And today in Edinburgh is our Welcome Fair, hosted in Oriam. In opening the Fair this morning, I was able to speak with our students and experience the feeling of anticipation and excitement as they embark on a new chapter of their lives. Introducing them to all the activities and societies they can take part in, encouraging them to try something new or perhaps indulge an existing passion, is all part of the university experience. Every year, the Welcome Fair is a big undertaking, more so in our current circumstances, so I thank everyone for their energy, enthusiasm and creativity for making this happen.
I know our Dubai campus is also buzzing with activity as our colleagues and students are able to take full advantage or our new surroundings and facilities. It’s an exciting time to see the new campus being used to its full potential, and I am very much looking forward to the possibility of spending some time at the campus at the end of September.
As we move into the new academic year, we can also look forward to more bicentennial celebrations. Our Music Cottage will be launching its 200 Concerts, including the wonderful arrangement of ‘Caledonia’ sent as a musical postcard to our Malaysia colleagues to celebrate their National Day. We also have our Global Gathering for alumni in October as well as the formal Installation of our Chancellor, Prof Sir Geoff Palmer. Please lookout for more information on events coming up.
The Chancellor and I made a new session message for students, it can be viewed here if you wish to see it. Meantime, to everyone, I wish you all a successful and enjoyable start to the academic year.
Professor Richard A. Williams
Principal and Vice-Chancellor