Dr Val MacIver OBE

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We are deeply saddened by the passing of Dr Val MacIver OBE, a visionary leader and one of the initial promoters of the University of the Highlands and Islands project, known then as the UHI Millennium Institute.

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Dr Val MacIver OBE photographed in Strathpeffer in May 2008 as UHI Rector and Chair of UHI Foundation

Elected in 1982 as a councillor in Ross and Cromarty District Council, she later became an independent member for the Ferindonald ward on Highland Regional Council.

Dr Val MacIver OBE standing with the UHI Millenium Institute sign at UHIs Executive Office on Ness Walk

She became chair of the education committee in 1991, staying in the role when elected to the new Highland Council in 1995.

She was also chair of Ross and Cromarty area education committee and vice chair of Ross and Cromarty area cultural and leisure committee.

In 1991, she chaired a steering group set up by the council to examine the case for a university of the Highlands and Islands.

She became the first president of the organisation’s community body in 1994 and joined its board of governors in 1997. In 2004, Dr MacIver became the university’s third rector, spending 6 years in the post.

Dr MacIver received an Honorary Fellowship from UHI in 2004, a testament to her significant impact and lifelong commitment to education.

Dr Val MacIver OBE being presented with her Honorary Fellowship by Colin Mackay CBE FRCS former Chair of the Board for UHI Millenium Institute Board of Governors at the 2004 Annual Lecture held at UHI Orkney Kirkwall campus

In 2018 she saw her granddaughter Niamh Mackenzie graduate with a first class honours degree from UHI Orkney. It is one of the colleges that make up the UHI partnership she envisaged nearly 30 years earlier.

UHI graduate Niamh Mackenzie and Dr Val MacIver OBE attending Niamhs graduation ceremony in Orkney.

Dr MacIver said seeing Niamh graduate was the culmination of everything she and her colleagues had worked for in establishing a university.

University title announcement press event on 2 February 2011 at UHIs Executive Office on Ness Walk

On UHI’s 10th anniversary in 2021, she said the aim of creating a university “was to bring choice, opportunity and inward investment, to attract or retain people to work in the Highlands and Islands.”

“The idea was met with some scepticism at the time. But its success is a great source of pride.”

Vicki Nairn, UHI Principal and Vice-Chancellor, said: “Val’s contributions to the educational landscape in the Highlands and Islands are immeasurable, and her legacy will continue to inspire future generations.”

“She will be greatly missed by all who knew her and by the many lives she touched through her work."