Sabhal Mòr Ostaig

Scottish Gaelic college on the Isle of Skye, Scotland

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig (Great Barn of Ostaig) is a public higher education college situated in the Sleat peninsula in the south of the Isle of Skye, Scotland with an associate campus at Bowmore on the island of Islay. Sabhal Mòr is an independent Academic Partner in the federal University of the Highlands and Islands. Its sole medium of instruction on degree courses is Scottish Gaelic. Since its foundation in 1973 Sabhal Mòr Ostaig has played a crucial role in the linguistic and cultural renaissance of Gaelic in Scotland. The college enjoys an international reputation for the study of the history and literature of the Gàidhealtachd, past and present; for research into political, educational, and community aspects of minority language maintenance and revitalisation; and for its engagement with Gaelic creative arts, as well as with broadcast and online media. Sabhal Mòr's research base has been further strengthened to take in sociolinguistics, through the Soillse initiative; corpus planning and historical lexicography, through the Stòrdata Nàiseanta na Gàidhlig/Gaelic Terminology Database and the Faclair na Gàidhlig/Dictionary of Scottish Gaelic projects; and toponomy, through the Ainmean Àite na h Alba/Gaelic Place Names of Scotland advisory partnership, all based at the college. Research capacity is underpinned by the Sabhal Mòr Ostaig Library with its internationally important collections of material related to Gaelic and to the Highlands, and further complemented by the proximity of two major Highland archives: those of MacDonald of Sleat in the Museum of the Isles by Armadale Castle, and the MacLeod papers in Dunvegan Castle. Through academic collaboration and student exchanges, the college maintains close links with partner institutions in Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and Nova Scotia. With established residencies for writers, artists, musicians, and dramatists; its prominent degree courses in media and traditional music; its hosting of the national folklore digitisation project Tobar an Dualchais/Kist o Riches; and Fàs, its £8 million centre for creative industries, Sabhal Mòr fulfils an important cultural remit both in the Highlands and in Scotland more generally.

In early 1972 Iain Noble, financier, merchant banker, and Gaelic activist, bought the northern portion of the Sleat estate, in the south of the Isle of Skye, from the then owner, Godfrey Macdonald, 8th Baron Macdonald of Sleat. Noble's vision for his new Eilean Iarmain estate was inspired by a visit he had made to the Faroe Islands in the late 1960s. There he had been impressed by how the local linguistic and cultural renaissance had helped to create what was at the time a correspondingly dynamic economic and creative revival:

Noble set about putting his ideals into practice. Gaelic speakers were recruited and employed in running new fishing and textile enterprises; with a longer term vision of establishing a Gaelic medium college and research centre offering vocational further education, as well as opportunities for Gaelic learners to develop their fluency. Four urrasairean or trustees were appointed: Iain Noble, poet Sorley Maclean, Donald Ruaraidh Macdonald of Portree High School, and Gordon Barr, then a lecturer in biochemistry at the University of Dundee. Barr was to take a year's sabbatical, from June 1973 to September 1974, as the college's first fear stiùiridh or director. Other activities included a lecture series, a Gaelic playgroup, night classes for Gaelic learners, and events for Gaelic speaking schoolchildren. In November 1974 the charitable Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation offered Sabhal Mòr a three year grant towards the cost of a full time director. Farquhar MacLennan, a teacher from Raasay accepted the post the following spring. Sabhal Mòr was well placed to take advantage of the demand for a major increase in Gaelic speaking personnel in the Scottish media. Under its new director Norman Gillies, the college was able to secure funding from the Scottish Office, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Scottish Television, and Grampian Television for the construction of a £1.4 million accommodation block, Àrainn Ostaig (Ostaig Campus), with 36 student bedrooms, teaching and administration spaces, dining facilities, and a television studio. Àrainn Ostaig opened in the autumn of 1993. The same year, the college launched what would prove a remarkably popular postgraduate diploma in Gaelic Broadcasting. The project bid was funded in full: an award of £33.35 million allowed construction of new college buildings throughout the network, in preparation for envisaged university status. In 2008 the £8 million new centre for creative and cultural industries, Ionad Fàs, incorporating a television studio, offices, workshop and exhibition spaces, and Gaelic medium childcare facilities, was finished. In 2013 the £6.7 million first phase of the ambitious Kilbeg Village scheme began, a long term development that will result in new administration and research facilities, a conference and training centre, new college and community sports and recreation provision, a hotel, and up to 75 new houses being built in the space between the two campuses.

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig has a lively student culture. The college hosts regular concerts, plays, cèilidhs, dances, films, and gigs open to the wider local community, while local hotels and pubs offer weekly music sessions in a variety of styles. There are a number of local sports clubs, and a popular Club Coiseachd/Walking Club allows students the opportunity to enjoy the landscape of Skye and surrounding areas. As well as organising social events, the student association Comann nan Oileanach is actively involved in a number of campaigns, strengthening links with students in other Associate Partners in the University of the Highlands and Islands, with Celtic Societies in other universities and with other smaller colleges across the country.