University post at Glasgow Caledonian for poverty activist

Published on 01/07/2012 00:00

AN INTERNATIONAL anti-poverty campaigner has been named as the chancellor of Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU).

Professor Muhammad Yunus takes over from Lord Macdonald of Tradeston, who stepped down last week.

Yunus is the founder of the Grameen Bank, a global movement dedicated to alleviating poverty through micro-lending to those with the very least in society which was founded in Bangladesh.

The 2006 Nobel peace prize winner said: “I look forward to building on the fruitful relationship that has already been established and has produced benefits which are helping to improve the quality of life for people in both our countries.”

Yunus has already worked with GCU. In March, he announced while at the university details of a charity, the Grameen Scotland Foundation.

The foundation, supported by the Scottish Government, is the cornerstone of a micro-finance bank branch in Glasgow designed to alleviate the economic, health and social inequalities in some of Scotland’s poorest communities.

It will be modelled on the Grameen Bank, which was founded in 1976 by Yunus and operates in 100 countries, including the US.

In 2010, GCU opened the Grameen Caledonian College of Nursing in Bangladesh. GCU set up the Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health the same year, which researches the impact of micro-credit on the wellbeing of communities in Scotland and overseas.