Alumni Services

A half-century catch up

A group of former psychology students reunited last year for the first return to Edinburgh together in fifty years.

Psychology reunion

The twelve alumni and partners enjoyed an action packed two days, with contributions from staff and students helping to make it a weekend to remember.

The reunion began by meeting the current head of psychology in the Psychology department, with refreshments and initial greetings. The group heard about how the department has changed since the 1960’s and exchanged career and life stories. 

Beate Coward, the reunion organiser, noted that there were those that stayed in academia, followed a psychological career path such as educational psychology or therapy and those who branched out - teaching, the RAF as a pilot, even running a guesthouse.

One interesting snippet is that all the married alumni were still with their original partners!

Truly and without exaggeration I can say that this was the best celebration I have experienced full stop. I approached it with apprehension, thinking I might go into some dingy rooms with distant and possibly aloof people but it was just the opposite.

1964 Alumnus
Meeting students

Freshers again

Alumni were then invited to attend a first year psychology lecture where they were welcomed alongside students and shown historical slides from the 1960’s, which had been unearthed with the help of the University Archives. The group visited the Centre for Research Collections later in the day and memories and conversations were sparked by manuscripts and papers.

A rewarding encounter

A high point of the weekend was the opportunity to chat with current students in the psychology department.

It was great to meet all of you and hear all of your experiences - it's really great for us to get outside of our 'University bubble' environment and find out what people out in the real world have been doing!

Current student

A formal dinner was held in Old College in the evening and on Saturday the group were taken on a tour around the University by a student ambassador, rediscovering old haunts of their student days and discovering new developments.

Is it time to come back?

Reunions are more popular than ever. They are a great way of renewing old acquaintances and keeping in touch with friends who may be based all over the world.