Aiming higher in the Highlands

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Narrator: The multi-campus model of the University of the Highlands and the Islands, allows students to study whilst continuing to live and study in some of Scotland’s remotest regions.

Woman 1: The Millennium Institute was really put together to allow people in rural communities to be able to study to degree level and beyond without leaving home. This means people like myself who have families and commitments are able to pursue further education or higher education with as little disruption to our lives as possible.

The reason I waited so long to start my degree is because up until the last few years, my children were still young-ish. I only have one who is left in their teens and the others are in their 20s, so it was a time that was right – my children were starting to do their own thing – for me to start studying because then I could devote more time to it that I would if the children were still young.

Narrator: This is a Big Lottery Fund podcast, for more information go to: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

The UHI Millennium Institute is enabling people across the Highlands and Islands to access a huge range of educational opportunities

Jill de Fresnes completed her doctoral research into the Scottish fishing industry at Orkney College, University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) while living and working over 250 miles away on the west coast – thanks to the multi-campus model of the UHI Millennium Institute.

UHI students do not have to leave their local area to study, since the university is a federation of 15 colleges and research institutions and 50-plus learning centres across the Highlands and Islands.

With full university status, UHI offers learners the chance to undertake everything from non-advanced skills and craft courses through to undergraduate, postgraduate and post-doctoral study. It specialises in the culture, heritage, environment and industries of the region.

Jill undertook her research into the ‘herring girls’ – island women who travelled around the coast of Britain to find fishing industry work in the first half of the 20th century.

When she graduated in 2010, she became the first PhD student whose supervision was led by Orkney College UHI.

“UHI is an incredible model for post-graduate education, giving opportunities to those living, working and bringing up families in the more remote areas of northern Scotland”

“I was able to live in Morar, commute by ferry to Sabhal Mòr Ostaig which hosted my studies, and work through the Centre for Nordic Studies at Orkney College 250 miles away – without UHI, that would have been impossible,” she says.

“UHI is an incredible model for postgraduate education, giving opportunities to those living, working and bringing up families in the more remote areas of northern Scotland.”

did you know?

• Over 8,000 students are educated within the UHI
• 15 colleges and over 50 learning centres are involved
• It is the only university based in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland