The (Lord) Rector of the University of Glasgow is one of the most senior posts within the institution, elected every three years by students. The theoretical role of the rector is to represent students to the senior management of the university and raise issues which concern them. In order to achieve this, the rector is the statutory chair of the Court, the governing body of the university.
The position's place in the university was enshrined by statute in the Universities (Scotland) Act 1889, which provided for the election of a rector at all of the universities in existence at the time in Scotland (being St Andrews, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh). Students of the University of Dundee also elect a rector.
The latest rectorial election was concluded on the 26th of March 2024, and featured four candidates: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, Susan McCabe, Paul Sweeney MSP, and Lady Rita Rae, who was seeking re-election.[1] Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah, who received over 80% of the votes, was consequently installed as rector on the 11th of April 2024.[2]
Students have not always voted for working rectors; anti-apartheid activists Winnie Mandela (1987–1990) and Albert Lutuli (1962–1965) were elected on the understanding that they would be unable to undertake the position's responsibilities, while Mordechai Vanunu (2005–2008) was unable to fulfil his duties as he was not allowed to leave Israel and Edward Snowden (2014–2017) was not expected to fulfill his duties due to an ongoing self-imposed exile in Russia. However, other recent Rectors have been elected on the presumption they will be working rectors, e.g. Ross Kemp (1999–2000), who resigned from the post after the Students' Representative Council voted to request his resignation, such was the extent of student dissatisfaction with his performance.At the Rectorial election in February 2004, no nominations for the post of rector had been received. Upon the end of Greg Hemphill's term, the university was left without a rector for the first time in the position's history. The University Senate set another election date for December, when Mordechai Vanunu was elected. The post was left vacant for a second time at the end of Aamer Anwar's term in March 2020, with the scheduled Rectorial election postponed until March 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The previous rector was Lady Rita Rae, who was the first woman to hold the position in a standing capacity in the University's history.[3] However, during her term she faced heavy criticism from the student body due to her alleged absenteeism, which she denied.[4] [5]
Until 1977, for Rectorial election purposes, the university was divided into four 'nations' based on the students' birthplace, originally called Clidisdaliae, Thevidaliae, Albaniae and Rosay, and later as Glottiana, Loudoniana, Transforthana and Rothseiana. Three of the 'nations' consisted of defined areas in Scotland, with Loudoniana consisting of students from all other places.[6]
| Years | Name | Nationality | Biography | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1648–1650 | Robert Ramsay | Clergyman | ||
| 1690–1691 | David Boyle | Lord Clerk Register | ||
| 1691–1718 | Sir John Maxwell of Nether Park | Commissioner for Renfrewshire in the Scottish Parliament |
| Years | Name | Nationality | Biography | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1691–1718 | Sir John Maxwell of Nether Park | Commissioner for Renfrewshire in the Scottish Parliament | ||
| 1718–1720 | Mungo Graham of Gorthie | Commr. justiciary for Highlands | ||
| 1720–1723 | Robert Dundas, of Arniston, the elder | Lord President of the Court of Session | ||
| 1723–1725 | James Hamilton of Aikenhead | |||
| 1725–1726 | Sir Hugh Montgomerie of Hartfield | |||
| 1726–1729 | George Ross | Master of Ross, 13th Lord Ross | ||
| 1729–1731 | Francis Dunlop of Dunlop | |||
| 1731–1733 | ||||
| 1733–1738 | ||||
| 1738–1740 | George Bogle of Daldowie, | Glasgow Tobacco Lord | ||
| 1740–1742 | ||||
| 1742–1743 | ||||
| 1743–1746 | ||||
| 1746–1748 | ||||
| 1748–1750 | ||||
| 1750–1753 | ||||
| 1753–1755 | ||||
| 1755–1757 | The 3rd Earl of Glasgow | |||
| 1757–1759 | ||||
| 1759–1761 | ||||
| 1761–1763 | Grand Master Mason of the Grand Lodge of Scotland | |||
| 1763–1764 | Lord Glenlee, Lord Advocate | |||
| 1764–1767 | ||||
| 1767–1768 | The 4th Earl of Selkirk | |||
| 1768–1770 | ||||
| 1770–1772 | ||||
| 1772–1773 | Parliamentarian, Lord Clerk Register | |||
| 1773–1775 | Charles Schaw Cathcart, | 9th Lord Cathcart, General (British Army), Ambassador to Russia | ||
| 1775–1777 | Lord Advocate, Chief Baron of Exchequer | |||
| 1777–1779 | ||||
| 1779–1781 | Scottish representative peer | |||
| 1781–1783 | Lord Advocate | |||
| 1783–1785 | Philosopher | |||
| 1785–1787 | Parliamentarian, former student | |||
| 1787–1789 | Professor of Moral Philosophy, author of The Wealth of Nations, former student | |||
| 1789–1791 | ||||
| 1791–1793 | ||||
| 1793–1795 | ||||
| 1795–1797 | ||||
| 1797–1799 | ||||
| 1799–1801 | Lord Justice General |
| Years | Name | Nationality | Biography | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1799–1801 | Lord Justice General | |||
| 1801–1803 | ||||
| 1803–1805 | Lord Advocate, Chief Baron of Exchequer | |||
| 1805–1807 | ||||
| 1807–1809 | Archibald Colquhoun of Killermont | Lord Advocate | ||
| 1809–1811 | ||||
| 1811–1813 | parliamentarian | |||
| 1813–1815 | Previously styled, up until May 1814, as General Sir Thomas Graham | |||
| 1815–1817 | Lord Justice Clerk | |||
| 1817–1819 | Prominent Scottish peer | |||
| 1819–1820 | Lord Provost of Glasgow | |||
| 1820–1822 | Senator of the College of Justice, former student | |||
| 1822–1824 | Jurist | |||
| 1824–1826 | Lord Chancellor 1830–1834 | |||
| 1826–1829 | Poet, former student | |||
| 1829–1831 | Chancellor of the Exchequer | |||
| 1831–1834 | Senator of the College of Justice | |||
| 1834–1836 | a later Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | |||
| 1836–1838 | 2nd Bt., the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | |||
| 1838–1840 | 2nd Bt., Home Secretary | |||
| 1840–1842 | parliamentarian, former Grand Master Mason of the Grand Lodge of Scotland | |||
| 1842–1844 | parliamentarian and a later Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland | |||
| 1844–1846 | Lord Advocate | |||
| 1846–1847 | Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | |||
| 1847–1848 | William Mure of Caldwell | classical scholar, parliamentarian | ||
| 1848–1850 | Parliamentarian | |||
| 1850–1852 | Institutional legal writer | |||
| 1852–1854 | a former (and a later) Lord Lieutenant of Ireland | |||
| 1854–1856 | parliamentarian | |||
| 1856–1859 | writer and politician | |||
| 1859–1862 | Viceroy of India 1862–1863 | |||
| 1862–1865 | The 3rd Viscount Palmerston | Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | ||
| 1865–1868 | Lord President of the Court of Session | |||
| 1868–1871 | a former (and a later) Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs | |||
| 1871–1877 | Benjamin Disraeli (1st Earl of Beaconsfield from 1876) | Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | ||
| 1877–1880 | Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | |||
| 1880–1883 | John Bright | Quaker, activist | ||
| 1883–1884 | Henry Fawcett | economist and parliamentarian | ||
| 1884–1887 | Professor of Greek | |||
| 1887–1890 | former Viceroy of India | |||
| 1890–1893 | former Chief Secretary for Ireland and a later Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | |||
| 1893–1896 | Solicitor-General for England and Wales | |||
| 1896–1899 | statesman, father of Sir Austen Chamberlain (Rector 1925–1928) | |||
| 1899–1902 | former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom |
| 1899–1902 | former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | |||
| 1902–1905 | Chief Secretary for Ireland | |||
| 1905–1908 | Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | |||
| 1908–1911 | former Viceroy of India, Foreign Secretary | |||
| 1911–1914 | Chief Secretary for Ireland and poet | |||
| 1914–1919 |  | President of the French Republic and a former (and later) Prime Minister of France | ||
| 1919–1922 | Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, former student | |||
| 1922–1925 | Lord Chancellor | |||
| 1925–1928 | parliamentarian and statesman | |||
| 1928–1931 | Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | |||
| 1931–1934 | novelist | |||
| 1934–1937 | 7th Bt. | |||
| 1937–1938 | pacifist | |||
| 1938–1945 | 4th Bt., Leader of the British Liberal Party | |||
| 1945–1947 | physician, nutritionist and Nobel laureate (former student) | |||
| 1947–1950 | politician (former student) | |||
| 1950–1953 | lawyer and famed nationalist (former student) | |||
| 1953–1956 | physician, director of Kelvingrove Art Gallery (former student) | |||
| 1956–1959 | became Home Secretary while rector and a former Chancellor of the Exchequer (and a later Foreign Secretary) | |||
| 1959–1962 | The 2nd Viscount Hailsham, Lord President of the Council (and a later Lord Chancellor) | |||
| 1962–1965 |  | President of the African National Congress and Nobel Peace Prize laureate (Absentee) | ||
| 1965–1968 | formerly the first Director-General of the BBC | |||
| 1968–1971 | The Baron MacLeod of Fuinary; Founder of the radical Christian organisation, the Iona Community; Past Moderator of the Church of Scotland | |||
| 1971–1974 | Trade union activist, his inaugural speech on social alienation was famous for its reference to the rat race | |||
| 1974–1977 | sports journalist | |||
| 1977–1980 | Elected while a student at the university | |||
| 1980–1984 | TV newsreader | |||
| 1984–1987 | Lord Provost of Glasgow | |||
| 1987–1990 | | South African activist and politician | ||
| 1990–1993 | musician, alumnus. | |||
| 1993–1996 | TV presenter | |||
| 1996–1999 | actor | |||
| 1999–2000 | actor |
| 2001–2004 | actor and alumnus | |||
| 2004–2005 | Position vacant | |||
| 2005–2008 |  | Israeli nuclear technician and whistle-blower (Absentee) | ||
| 2008–2014 | former Leader of the Liberal Democrats and alumnus. | |||
| 2014–2017 | Edward Snowden[7] |  | computer professional/intelligence whistleblower (Absentee) | |
| 2017–2020 | Lawyer, human rights campaigner and alumnus | |||
| 2019–2020 | Position vacant | The 2020 election was postponed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic | ||
| 2021–2024 | Former Senator of the College of Justice | |||
| 2024-present | Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah | War surgeon who operated in Gaza during the Israel–Hamas war |