St Andrews Vice Chancellor Delivers Public Lecture on the European University in the 21st Century

Posted on: 28 September 2010

The Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University of St Andrews, Dr Louise Richardson, gave a lecture entitled ‘the European University in the 21st Century’ in the Trinity Long Room Hub on Monday, September 27th last.  The lecture was hosted by the Trinity Long Room Hub, the research institute for the arts and humanities at TCD.

In the course of the lecture, Dr Richardson addressed a number of trends in relation to the future of university education in Europe including:

  • Increasing globalisation of education
  • Increasing claims for access to tertiary education
  • Increasing opportunities posed by new technologies
  • Increasing tensions between public funding and institutional autonomy

Dr Louise Richardson was appointed Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of St Andrews in 2009.  Prior to her appointment at St Andrews, Dr Richardson was Executive Dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University and a professor of government at Harvard.  Her teaching has been recognised with both national and local awards including the Levenson Prize, awarded annually by Harvard’s undergraduate student body to the best teachers at the University.  A political scientist by training, Louise has specialised in international security with an emphasis on terrorist movements.   Amongst her educational attributes include both bachelor and master’s degrees in History from TCD, a master’s degree from UCLA and master’s and doctoral degrees from Harvard University.  Dr Louise Richardson is an alumnus of Trinity College and was presented with an Alumni Award last year by the university.