Honorary Graduates

The University of the West of Scotland will honour leading individuals from Scotland and overseas at a Special Ceremony on Friday 7 December 2007. They will be first to receive awards from the newly renamed University. The event, which is part of ongoing celebrations to commemorate the University’s merger with Bell College on 1 August this year, will mark the formal inauguration of the University of the West of Scotland. The University of Paisley became known as University of the West of Scotland (UWS) on 30 November 2007, in a move which acknowledged the University’s recent development and its ambitious plans for the future. The University’s merger with Bell College earlier in the year created a four-campus, regional University with campuses in Ayr, Dumfries, Hamilton and Paisley. I...

Leading Scots entrepreneur and philanthropist, Sir Tom Hunter was honoured by the University at its graduation ceremony on Friday 9 November 2007, at Troon Town Hall. Sir Tom, who was born on 6 May 1961 in New Cumnock, Ayrshire, initially came to prominence through Sports Division, which he built from nothing into one of the UK’s premier sports retailers over an eighteen-year period employing 7500 people across over 250 stores. He sold the business in 1998 for £290 million. In 2001 he founded West Coast Capital (West Coast), the private equity partnership, and subsequently has concluded in excess of £4 billion of West Coast-led deals. Principally investing in retail, property and leisure, the private equity firm takes a proactive role in the identification, investment and manageme...

Ceremony Marks Formal Inauguration of the University of the West of Scotland

Sir Tom Hunter Receives Honorary Doctorate