Top Scottish private school bought by Qatari with links to royal family
One of Scotland's most prestigious private schools has been bought by the former deputy prime minister of Qatar.
Glenalmond College, a Presbyterian boarding school founded in 1847 by William Gladstone, is now in the hands of 35 Education, a company that styles itself as 'a philanthropic education enterprise'. The new owner is a joint venture between Professor Basak Akdemir, a Turkish academic and businesswoman, and Khalid bin Mohammed al-Attiyah, who served as deputy prime minister and foreign affairs minister and has links to Qatar's royal family.
Akdemir said a generous investment would bring Glenalmond 'up to standard' over the next two to three years. There are plans to open a chain of Glenalmond Colleges across the world.
The takeover has prompted concern from some people close to the school who take issue with Qatar's human rights record towards women and the LGBT community.
Falling roll numbers and the financial difficulties common in the private school sector had made the sudden takeover a 'necessary step', insiders said.
Lucy Elphinstone, who has been appointed executive principal of the Glenalmond Schools Group, said: 'Absolutely no parents or staff or anybody has raised any issues whatsoever. And there is no association with his excellency, except that he has given incredibly generously and is president of Glenalmond.
'We have on our governing body the primus of the Episcopalian Church and a second bishop, and they have looked into this very carefully and feel there's going to be no influence.'
Attiyah, who has also funded 40 scholarships, has been appointed president of the schools group but will not be involved day to day.
Elphinstone said that the move might prove to be a model for other fee-paying British schools and she expected more money from the Middle East to be invested in the private system.
Other schools, she said, 'would give anything to be in the position we are in'. She added: 'I've had other heads phone me to ask if the professor has a brother or sister who might like to invest in my school, and can you introduce me.'
A check with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator showed Glenalmond College had failed to file its accounts on time. They are nearly two months overdue.
Companies House filings show that 35 Education was incorporated on January 6. Akdemir confirmed that the business was set up for the purpose of taking over Glenalmond. She is the sole director and has a background in shipping with a speciality in artificial intelligence.
Akdemir has been appointed head of the board of directors of the school.
A statement from the college in Perth and Kinross, which was built to be 'the Eton of the north', said a new board had been appointed as part of a 'change in personnel'.
The school's constitution dictates that a descendant of Gladstone, the four-time prime minister, and the primus of the Scottish Presbyterian Church must sit on the board.
Glenalmond is called 'Coll' by the school community. One former governor, who asked not to be named, said: 'I hope this is going to be good for Coll in the long term — these are challenging times for the sector and all new investment is to be welcomed.' They called for 'more openness' over the move and added: 'The investment appears to be coming from an expert in Turkish maritime higher education and a former minister in a repressive government that does not allow free speech and is intolerant of the LGBTQ community. The chair of governors has resigned but nothing is being said about the rest of the governing council. Glenalmond has a proud history; it would be a tragedy if it were to be mired in controversy.'
Akdemir said she had been looking for a school to invest in 'for some time' and chose Glenalmond for its history and 'glorious campus'.
Elphinstone said: 'The raw material, the canvas of the college, is so wonderful, so glorious, and has such potential. But, as with all schools, over the past decade it's been harder to attract students. Pressure has come upon our ability to be able to develop and expand in the way that all schools are wanting to in terms of their facilities and their provision.'
Elphinstone highlighted the pressure on private schools following the introduction of VAT on education and boarding fees as well as the rise in national insurance contributions and the loss of business rates relief. These, she said, had made it impossible for 'parents clinging on by their fingernails to give an independent education to their children'.
She has offered places to families at schools that have recently announced closure, saying the plight of the UK's fee-paying schools is a 'desperate situation'.
Elphinstone, who was headmistress of a school in London where Akdemir sent her daughter, described the takeover's provenance as an 'extraordinary quirk of fate'. She added: 'I didn't realise that her parents felt they owe this great debt of gratitude to my school, and perhaps to me.' Akdemir had spent a year looking for the right school to buy and saw Elphinstone's name on the list of governors of Glenalmond.
Elphinstone added: 'It is utterly miraculous. I am a Christian and I do believe this was an act of God … The staff live on campus and with the pupil numbers going down, they were thinking, 'Is it going to be OK?' Now, hopefully for another 178 years at least, the school will flourish.'
Miles Briggs, the education spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives, said the news indicated the pressures caused by Labour's 'misguided' economic policies that are 'failing to bring in the predicted revenue, costing jobs, letting down pupils and placing extra strain on state schools'.
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