The Ina Scott Sutherland Charitable Foundation has pledged £50,000 to Robert Gordon University for the creation of a new scholarship aimed at supporting students from traditionally under-represented backgrounds.
The ‘Ina Scott Sutherland Access Scholarship’ will support four undergraduate architecture students for the duration of their five year degree course, providing financial support and bespoke mentoring support during their degree course.
RGU has long benefitted from the philanthropic support of the Scott Sutherland family. Thomas Scott Sutherland, architect, entrepreneur, local politician and alumnus of RGU gave his house and Deeside estate to the university in 1954. This has become the heartland of the Robert Gordon University riverside campus today. In 1957, six years before his death The Scott Sutherland School of Architecture was officially opened.
Georgina Scott Sutherland was proud of the family connection with Robert Gordon University and made a generous donation herself in 2000 to support the building of the then new library, (now the Aberdeen Business School), which was designed by Sir Norman Foster.
Sarah Dingwall, RGU development manager: “We are delighted that we are able to support bright students pursue a higher education at Robert Gordon University through this scholarship, and extremely grateful to the Trustees of the Ina Scott Sutherland Charitable Foundation.
“It is a fitting legacy to the philanthropy of the Scott Sutherland family that these scholarships have been established at RGU to support future generations of students especially those student architects that are following in the footsteps of Thomas Scott Sutherland.”
Professor David McClean, Head of School, Scott Sutherland School of Architecture and Built Environment, added: “The Scott Sutherland School is hugely indebted to The Ina Scott Sutherland Charitable Foundation, whose generous commitment to create a scholarship for students of architecture represents nearly 60 years of philanthropic support by the Scott Sutherland Family. Such support has been of enormous importance to the School and University, the current form of which owes so much to Thomas Scott Sutherland’s original gift of estate in 1954.
“The pledge of £50,000 to create a new scholarship in support of students from traditionally under-represented backgrounds is especially welcome at a time when the cost of architecture education in the UK is proving particularly challenging for many.
“There is an obvious argument that the membership of professions such as architecture should mirror the diversity of the wider society that it represents, and it is through enlightened support such as this that positive steps can be made. For the recipients, support such as this will prove transformational and I am delighted that the scholarships will so powerfully bolster the School’s commitment to the widening of access and opportunity.”