The Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, the first of the four Trusts that Andrew Carnegie established in the United Kingdom, was created by a Deed which he signed on 7 June 1901, and it was incorporated by Royal Charter on 21 August 1902. The Trust was funded by a gift of $10 million (a then unprecedented sum: at the time, total government assistance to all four Scottish universities was about £50,000 a year) and its aim was to improve and extend the opportunities for scientific research in the Scottish universities and to enable the deserving and qualified youth of Scotland to attend a university, something from which they might be barred by their inability to pay university fees.
When the Trust was established there were then only the four ancient universities - Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews; there are now 15 universities, so the funds are much more thinly spread. Since its foundation in 1901, approximately 100,000 people have received grants for research or for their tuition fees from the Trust. The number who have benefited indirectly from the Trust through the provision of buildings, libraries, residences, and other facilities can only be conjectured, but it must be large.
There are 14 nominated Trustees, who are elected or re-elected at the Annual Meeting of Trustees. The ex-officio Trustees are the Principals of the Universities of Scotland, the First Minister and the Lord Provosts of Edinburgh and Glasgow. In accordance with the provisions of the Royal Charter and its By-Laws, the administration and management of the Trust are the responsibility of the Executive Committee, which consists of 5 nominated Trustees and the Principals of the 14 Scottish Universities, with only 4 of the Principals in rotation having voting rights.
From the early 1900s the Trust was located in The Merchants’ Hall, Hanover Street, Edinburgh, until it relocated to Dunfermline in 1992. In 2008, the Trust moved to a new building along with the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust, the Carnegie Hero Fund and the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust, and this brought all four UK Carnegie Trusts together under one roof in Andrew Carnegie House.
