In 1901,
with a gift of 10 million, Andrew Carnegie established his Trust for the Universities of Scotland. His ambition was simple but transformative: to remove financial barriers so that the benefits of higher education could be open to everyone.
Within ten years of its foundation, the Trust was providing funding to around half of the students attending university in Scotland, making university possible for people who would otherwise have been excluded because of income or background.
Carnegie believed that when education becomes a common good, it strengthens the common good. That principle has guided our work for more than a century—and continues to shape the evolution of the Trust today
The higher education landscape has changed remarkably in the last 125 years, and we have concluded that we too must evolve.
Find out more about our history:
And so, we are refocusing our activities, to not only continue to strive to transform individual’s lives, but to be instrumental in promoting improvement within the system itself.
In part, we are driven by our heritage – the desire to recapture the spirit and vision that Carnegie has for the Trust and which it embodied in its early years.
But we are also looking ahead – ensuring that our work continues to be relevant and impactful for today, and the world that will emerge in the coming decades.
Our focus is on growing our impact and relevance, putting equity firmly back at the heart of what we do.
To achieve our goals we will be inclusive, curious and progressive, and we will work in partnership as we strive to ensure that students who face barriers to participation and achievement are given the help they need to thrive.
We will also championing systemic changes that will better enable their success with research that seek to add evidence and data to national conversations and ensure that debate remains rich and inclusive.
To better reflect who we are today and where we are heading, we are also adopting a new operating name for the Trust.
Proud of our roots, officially we will remain CTUS, but we believe that as the Carnegie Education Fund we will more accurately embody the breadth of our mission, the nature of our ambitions and the values that guide our work.
How we will achieve our ambitions is laid out in our new strategic plan for the coming five years.
Our mission remains the same –
to ensure that higher education delivers its benefits evenly and continues to serve Scotland’s people and communities.
