Wednesday 24th August 2011

Shetland will play an important role in a formal ceremony, which will take place tomorrow (Thursday 25 August) in Inverness to mark the achievement of the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) attaining university status.

The celebrations will include the unveiling and presentation of the ceremonial robes and the university’s new mace together with formal speeches, poems, traditional music especially composed for the occasion and a welcome to guests by school children representing each region in the English, Gaelic and Scots language and Shetland and Orkney dialects.

Shetland, which has two academic colleges within the UHI: the NAFC Marine Centre UHI and Shetland College UHI, will be very much involved with the celebration and Scalloway Junior High School pupil, Rona Learmonth, aged 10, will give the Shetland welcome.

Live streaming of the event will be made available so that staff and students can witness the ceremony on their own PCs or in public areas of both colleges.

The climax of the festivities will include a fly-past by RAF jets of all the UHI academic college partners throughout the highlands and islands – a symbol of the collegiate nature of the university. From approximately 12.30 – 13.30 there will be a single low-level flypast by a tornado jet over the Shetland College and NAFC Marine Centre, travelling at around 350 knots.