Sabhal Mòr Ostaig

thumb|Àrainn Chaluim Chille, one of the two campuses that make up the college

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig (; ) is a public higher education college situated in the Sleat peninsula in the south of the Isle of Skye, Scotland with an associate campus at Bowmore on the island of Islay. Sabhal Mòr is an independent Academic Partner in the federal University of the Highlands and Islands. Its sole medium of instruction on degree courses is Scottish Gaelic.

Since its foundation in 1973 Sabhal Mòr Ostaig has played a crucial role in the linguistic and cultural renaissance of Gaelic in Scotland. The college enjoys an international reputation for the study of the history and literature of the Gàidhealtachd, past and present; for research into political, educational, and community aspects of minority language maintenance and revitalisation; and for its engagement with Gaelic creative arts, as well as with broadcast and online media.

Sabhal Mòr's research base has been further strengthened to take in sociolinguistics, through the Soillse initiative; corpus planning and historical lexicography, through the Stòrdata Nàiseanta na Gàidhlig/Gaelic Terminology Database and the Faclair na Gàidhlig/Dictionary of Scottish Gaelic projects; and toponomy, through the Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba/Gaelic Place-Names of Scotland advisory partnership, all based at the college. Research capacity is underpinned by the Sabhal Mòr Ostaig Library with its internationally important collections of material related to Gaelic and to the Highlands, and further complemented by the proximity of two major Highland archives: those of MacDonald of Sleat in the Museum of the Isles by Armadale Castle, and the MacLeod papers in Dunvegan Castle. Through academic collaboration and student exchanges, the college maintains links with partner institutions in Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and Nova Scotia.

With residencies for writers, artists, musicians, and dramatists; its degree courses in media and traditional music; its hosting of the national folklore digitisation project Tobar an Dualchais/Kist o Riches; and Fàs, its £8-million centre for creative industries, Sabhal Mòr fulfils an important cultural remit both in the Highlands and in Scotland more generally.

History

Beginnings

In early 1972 Iain Noble, financier, merchant banker, and Gaelic activist, bought the northern portion of the Sleat estate, in the south of the Isle of Skye, from the then owner, Godfrey Macdonald, 8th Baron Macdonald of Sleat. Noble's vision for his new Eilean Iarmain estate was inspired by a visit he had made to the Faroe Islands in the late 1960s. There he had been impressed by how the local linguistic and cultural renaissance had helped to create what was at the time a correspondingly dynamic economic and creative revival:

Noble set about putting his ideals into practice. Gaelic speakers were recruited and employed in running new fishing and textile enterprises; with a longer-term vision of establishing a Gaelic-medium college and research centre offering vocational further education, as well as opportunities for Gaelic learners to develop their fluency. Four urrasairean or trustees were appointed: Iain Noble, poet Sorley Maclean, Donald Ruaraidh Macdonald of Portree High School, and Gordon Barr, then a lecturer in biochemistry at the University of Dundee. Barr was to take a year's sabbatical, from June 1973 to September 1974, as the college's first fear-stiùiridh or director. Other activities included a lecture series, a Gaelic playgroup, night classes for Gaelic learners, and events for Gaelic-speaking schoolchildren.

In November 1974 the charitable Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation offered Sabhal Mòr a three-year grant towards the cost of a full-time director. Farquhar MacLennan, a teacher from Raasay accepted the post the following spring. Sabhal Mòr was well placed to take advantage of the demand for a major increase in Gaelic-speaking personnel in the Scottish media. Under its new director Norman Gillies, the college was able to secure funding from the Scottish Office, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Scottish Television, and Grampian Television for the construction of a £1.4 million accommodation block, Àrainn Ostaig (Ostaig Campus), with 36 student bedrooms, teaching and administration spaces, dining facilities, and a television studio. Àrainn Ostaig opened in the autumn of 1993. The same year, the college launched what would prove a remarkably popular postgraduate diploma in Gaelic Broadcasting.

The project bid was funded in full: an award of £33.35 million allowed construction of new college buildings throughout the network, in preparation for envisaged university status. In 2008 the £8 million new centre for creative and cultural industries, Ionad Fàs, incorporating a television studio, offices, workshop and exhibition spaces, and Gaelic-medium childcare facilities, was finished. In 2013 the £6.7 million first phase of the Kilbeg Village scheme began, a long-term development that will result in new administration and research facilities, a conference and training centre, new college and community sports and recreation provision, a hotel, and up to 75 new houses being built in the space between the two campuses.

Campus

thumb|A view of Àrainn Chaluim Chille, one of the two campuses that make up the college

At present Sabhal Mòr Ostaig occupies two linked campuses, Àrainn Ostaig and Àrainn Chaluim Chille.

Àrainn Ostaig, situated some north-east of the main ferry terminal at Armadale, consists of two quadrangles. The renovated Ostaig steading was originally built on a U-plan in the late 1820s by Major Allan MacDonald of Belfinlay, who had the lease of Ostaig farm at the time, then subsequently extended on the south side. The adjoining modern blocks of student accommodation, lecture facilities, and offices, designed by Donald Mackillop Assocs, were opened in autumn 1993. Adjoining them is the later Ionad Fàs (2008), the centre for creative and cultural industries, again designed by Gillespie Architects.

The college's associate campus Ionad Chaluim Chille Ìle, situated beside Bowmore on the island of Islay and incorporating a library and lecture facilities, was opened in 2002.

Organisation

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig is an independent charitable company and an Academic Partner of the University of the Highlands and Islands. The college itself is governed by a Board of Directors responsible for strategy and policy development. Its Cathraichean (Chairs) since 2007 have been:

2007–2016 Roddy John MacLeod, now Lord Minginish
2016–2017 Aideen O’Malley, an Irish academic living in Scotland
2017–2023 Angus G MacLeod, an Inverness-based solicitor
2023–date Angus MacInnes

A college management team supervises the three internal departments of Academic Provision, Arts and Development, and Finance and Planning. College staff are also involved in the governance of the University of the Highlands and Islands, and participate in relevant committees within the wider network partnership.

The following projects are associated with Sabhal Mòr Ostaig:

Cànan: bilingual creative agency
Faclair na Gàidhlig/Dictionary of Scottish Gaelic
Ainmean-Àite na h-Alba/Gaelic Place-Names of Scotland
Soillse: the national research network for the maintenance and revitalisation of Gaelic language and culture
Stòrdata Nàiseanta na Gàidhlig/Gaelic Terminology Database
Tobar an Dualchais – Kist o Riches: collaborative online folklore project

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig has a writer-in-residence, a musician-in-residence, artists in residence, and a drama artist-in-residence.

Academic life

Courses

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig offers the following degrees and diplomas:

Distance Learning:

Cùrsa Inntrigidh (Beginners’ Gaelic Course)
Cùrsa Adhartais (Advanced Gaelic Course)
Sgilean Sgrìobhaidh (Gaelic Writing Skills)
Deasachadh agus Foillseachadh (Editing and Publishing)
DipHE Gaelic and Related Studies
BA (With or without Honours) Gàidhlig is Leasachadh (Gaelic and Development)
BA (With or without Honours) Cànan is Cultar na Gàidhlig (Gaelic Language and Culture)
CPD Diploma Leasachadh Coimhearsnachd (Community Development)
CPD Diploma Leasachadh Cànain (Language Development)
PGCert Scottish Culture and Heritage
MA Learning and Teaching (Gaelic Arts)

Undergraduate:

CertHE An Cùrsa Comais (Gaelic Competence Course)
CertHE Gàidhlig is Conaltradh (Gaelic and Communication)
PDA Diploma Na Meadhanan Gàidhlig (Gaelic Media)
BA (Hons) Cànan is Cultar na Gàidhlig (Gaelic Language and Culture)
BA (Hons) Gàidhlig is Leasachadh (Gaelic and Development)
BA (Hons) Gàidhlig agus Ceòl Traidiseanta (Gaelic and Traditional Music)
MA (Hons) Gàidhlig agus Foghlam (Gaelic and Education)

Postgraduate:

MSc Cultar Dùthchasach agus Eachdraidh na Gàidhealtachd (Material Culture and Gàidhealtachd History)

In addition, research staff at the college are presently supervising PhD theses concerning Gaelic language, culture, history, and sociolinguistics.

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig also offers a growing number of short courses, well-established programmes in Gaelic language and music as well as more recent ones in history, culture, and crofting. Most are based at the main Skye campus, but the college runs a number of courses elsewhere in the country and abroad.

Library

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig Library is an internationally significant collection of material, antiquarian and contemporary, relating to Gaelic language, culture, and music, and Highland history. At present Special Collections number over 6,000 volumes, comprising six principal divisions:

the Celtica Collection, acquired by Sir Robert Gordon of Letterfourie (1824–1908) and previously housed in Fort Augustus Abbey;
the MacCormick Collection, donated by the pre-eminent Gaelic bookseller and collector Donald MacCormick;
the collection of Sorley Maclean (1911–1996), Gaelic poet and scholar;
the collection of Professor Robert A. Rankin (1915–2001), emeritus Professor of Mathematics at the University of Glasgow, and Gaelic scholar;
the collection of Professor Roderick Cannon (1938–2015), emeritus Professor of Chemistry at the University of East Anglia, and distinguished historian of bagpipe music;
the Sabhal Mòr Ostaig Collection itself, accumulated since the college's foundation.

The Library also holds a sizeable collection of historic 78-rpm recordings of Gaelic singers and musicians, donated from the archives of the BBC in Glasgow.

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig Library is a member of the Consortium of European Research Libraries, and the Ligue des Bibliothèques Européenes de Recherche.

College Principals and Directors

The following have been College Principals and Directors of Sabhal Mòr Ostaig:

Gordon Barr (Principal 1973–1974)
Farquhar MacLennan (Principal 1975–1978)
Iain Taylor (Principal 1980–1982)
Seán Ó Drisceoil (Principal 1983–1986)
Colin MacLeod (Principal 1986–1987)
Norman Gillies (Director 1987–2009)
Boyd Robertson (Director 2009–2018)
Gillian Munro (Director 2018–to date)

Student life and culture

The college hosts regular concerts, plays, cèilidhs, dances, films, and gigs open to the wider local community, while local hotels and pubs offer weekly music sessions in a variety of styles. There are a number of local sports clubs, and a Club Coiseachd/Walking Club allows students the opportunity to enjoy the landscape of Skye and surrounding areas.

As well as organising social events, the student association Comann nan Oileanach is involved in a number of campaigns, strengthening links with students in other Associate Partners in the University of the Highlands and Islands, with Celtic Societies in other universities and with other smaller colleges across the country.

References

External links

English version of website
Gàidhlig (Scottish Gaelic) version of website