The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Rare big screen glimpse of student life in Dundee
CELEBRATION: 25th anniversary of Abertay University marked by show of archive footage
Rare footage of university life in Dundee at the end of the last century is being made public after it was plucked from the history books and preserved for generations to come.
The material dating back to the 1980s and 1990s was found by Abertay University archivist Ruaraidh Wishart and will now be shown on the big screen to celebrate the institution’s 25th birthday.
The footage has been digitised after being uncovered during an exploration of the university’s vast archives of student records, syllabuses, meeting papers and rolls of film.
The movie includes scenes from Abertay’s predecessor, Dundee Institute of Technology, featuring a world of mainframe computers, punched card systems and the first student nurses completing their science qualifications.
It finishes off with an extract from the dedication service of Abertay University at Dundee Parish Church in 1994, with Tayside Regional Council blue buses and the former Overgate providing a nostalgic backdrop.
Abertay has its roots in the Dundee Technical Institute, which was founded in 1888, and only became a university on August 17 1994.
Mr Wishart said the videos dated from the period of around 1992–1994 when the then Dundee Institute of Technology was trying to recruit enough students to gain university status.
A snappy TV commercial gave the institution a new image as a vibrant, modern and enjoyable place to get the
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The disco is an enjoyable scene. RUARAIDH WISHART
qualifications needed for life, summed up in its branded slogan ‘You Can Do It At DIT’.
Mr Wishart said the screenings at 12.15 and 1.15pm on November 14 at the Steps Theatre in the Dundee Central Library would give film-goers a chance to go down memory lane.
“The disco in the student union is a particularly enjoyable scene,” he said.