Letter: Keep them apart

IT IS to be hoped Michael Russell takes seriously the wise words of Duncan Macmillan (Arts, 4 January) regarding the possible merger between Edinburgh College of Art and Edinburgh University.

From an academic standpoint, such a step has little real credibility; the college is dedicated to the education of the practitioner in the visual arts by means of studio-based creativity and reflection; the aim being to nurture the inner will to express, which is the essential driving impulse of any artist. The university tradition, by contrast, is based on scholarship informed by research, with the ultimate aim of furthering knowledge and understanding. Both the college and the university are fine institutions highly regarded by their peers, but it is crucial to understand the very different learning cultures that sustain them.

The college has a long and fruitful history of academic collaboration with both Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt universities, and I believe these initiatives are, and were, successful in no small measure because they were between two independent institutions with a mutual respect and regard for each other.

If it is felt there is some financial advantage to be gained, then it should be realised how different the financial systems of support of the two institutions are. The college is primarily funded for teaching, the university for teaching and research. These differences are highly significant in both financial and institutional management terms.

GAVIN ROSS

Mill of Breda

Alford, Aberdeenshire