Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland

The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland is a charitable trust established by Andrew Carnegie in 1901 for the benefit of the universities of Scotland, their students and their staff.

The incorporation of the Trust was by royal charter in August 1902, later replaced in July 1978. The endowment of the Trust on establishment was $10million (an unprecedented gift, amounting to around 200-times the annual governmental funding of the four Scottish universities at the time). In 2004-5, the assets of the Trust amounted to £58million, which enabled awards of £1,667,540 to be made. Under the terms set down by Andrew Carnegie, one half of the Trust's income is reserved for "the improvement and expansion of the Universities of Scotland" with the other half to go towards "the payment of fees of students of Scottish birth or extraction in respect of courses leading to a degree of a Scottish University".

The ex–officio Trustees of the Trust are: the Principals of the Universities of Scotland; the First Minister of Scotland and the Lords Provost of Edinburgh and Glasgow. (Prior to Scottish devolution, the Secretary of State for Scotland held the ex officio post currently occupied by the First Minister.) There are fourteen nominated Trustees, made up of esteemed Scots from various fields. The Executive Committee, which manages the Trust itself, consists of five of the nominated Trustees and four of the Principals of the Scottish Universities in rotation.

The Trust is well known for its efficient administration: although the Trust gives £2 million a year to several hundred beneficiaries, it does so with only two full-time and three part-time employees. The Trust also enjoys many voluntary repayments by beneficiaries (mainly through legacies) which go towards the Trust's general fund - in 2004-5, these repayments amounted to £134,850.

The Trust funds a small, prestigious group of scholarships for Scottish graduates with at least first-class honours degrees who are working towards a doctoral degree. The Trust intends such scholarships to be the "premier award in Scotland" and they are generally more generous awards than the equivalent from a Research Council. The scheme is highly competitive: although the number of scholarships awarded each year is not fixed, it is usually around 12-15, and the number of applicants is usually many times this. (For example, in 2008, only 15 out of 142 applicants were successful). All applicants must be nominated by an academic at a Scottish university and pursue their degrees in Scotland. Each Scottish university has a set quota of Scholarships.

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