DUNDEE UNIVERSITY has powered its way to a position as one of the UK’s leading universities, according to its principal.

In his annual report Sir Alan Langlands highlighted the university’s international reputation for excellence in research and said 2005/06 has been a ‘good year’.

He also outlined plans to make the university even better.

He said, “Having outgrown our previous structure, we are reorganising our academic management to give clearer definition and authority to the professional disciplines, to enable further progress in the general arts, sciences and visual disciplines, and to build on Dundee’s success in a rapidly changing and competitive environment.”

From August this year the university will be structured into four colleges—the College of Art and Design, Architecture, Engineering and Physical Sciences; the College of Arts and Social Sciences; the College of Life Sciences and the College of Medicine, Dentistry and Nursing.

Sir Alan continued, “We are confident that as we move towards the university’s 40th anniversary (2007) as an independent institution, we will be prepared to drive change and the further development of the university.”

The principal also welcomed Lord Naren Patel as the university’s fourth chancellor.

In May Lord Patel will replace Sir James Black, who Sir Alan described as having been a ‘model chancellor’.

Lord Patel is recognised internationally for his contribution to medicine, where his obstetrics work has made a difference to many lives, especially in the developing world.

Born in Tanzania and educated in India, Lord Patel graduated from St Andrews University and has dedicated most of his career to Ninewells Hospital and medical school.

Sir Alan said Dundee University aims for achieving excellence in learning and teaching, strives for international standards and gears students and staff to develop their full potential, and has made considerable progress in each of these areas.

Many of the university’s highlights of the year were included in the report, including winning the prestigious Queen’s Anniversary Prize for the work of the division of signal transduction therapy, a collaborative project that has united normally fierce rivals from the pharmaceutical industry in the quest to develop new drugs targeted at diseases such as cancer and diabetes.

In 2005/6 the university was ranked first in the UK for teaching quality, and the annual report highlights the great deal of investment and improvement which has taken place, such as developments in library resources, accelerations in e-learning and many new taught postgraduate programmes.