Introduction
Passion, research, creativity, daring - all have contributed to the diverse and immensely rich collections of more than 1.8 million items in Scottish Universities. Today, they comprise 32% of the country's materials on history of science, 31% of the nation's coins and medals, 24% of its fine art, 20% of natural science collections and 18% of its world culture collections. Collections in four universities, including the entire holdings of the Universities of Aberdeen and Glasgow, have been Recognised as nationally significant.
Our museums grow out of Scotland's distinctive and ancient traditions of higher education, inspiring explorers, scientists, scholars, artists and others in almost every field of endeavour. They play an increasingly important role in the cultural life of the nation, offering exhibitions activities and resources for everyone.
UMIS: University Museums in Scotland exists to foster the preservation, care and interpretation of historical and cultural collections in Scottish Universities, and to promote the interests of the collections.
2020 Response
UMIS and UMG have created a joint response to the Museums 2020 discussion paper - click here to read it.
UMIS teams up with SWIG
In July UMIS collaborated with the Scottish Word and Image Group on a fascinating interdisciplinary conference entitled Excavating Time - click on the conferences link above for details.
Revealing the Hidden Collections
UMIS has recently completed a two-year project to create collection-level descriptions for all the Accredited Scottish university museums, together with improved electronic access to item-level catalogues and images. Click Search our Collections above.
SFC Reporting template
Click here to view the document from the Scottish Funding Council setting out the agreed metrics for which SFC-funded UMIS members have to provide data. Other UMIS members are asked to compile the same statistics for comparative purposes.
