{"id":1253,"date":"2019-08-05T16:24:20","date_gmt":"2019-08-05T15:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/alumni\/?p=1253"},"modified":"2019-08-05T16:24:20","modified_gmt":"2019-08-05T15:24:20","slug":"my-life-and-legacy-colin-matheson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/alumni\/my-life-and-legacy-colin-matheson\/","title":{"rendered":"My Life and Legacy: Colin Matheson"},"content":{"rendered":"

Colin Matheson dedicated over 30 years of loyal service to the University of Westminster. As Director of Scholarships, he was the driving force behind developing the scholarships programme into one of the largest of its kind in the UK and changing the lives of thousands of students. Now retired, we talk to Colin about why he is leaving a legacy in his will.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When asked what is special about the University of Westminster, Colin doesn\u2019t need much time to think. \u201cThere are two things,\u201d he says. \u201cThe people. And the ethos of the institution; everyone gets the best quality of education possible. My personal views are very much aligned with the University\u2019s ethos and that made working here easy.\u201dThis is the ethos of \u201ceducation for all\u201d, a philosophy that has been at the core of the institution since its earliest days as the Polytechnic, providing education to London\u2019s poor and working classes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe heart of the institution is still the same,\u201d says Colin. And he should know. He devoted 30 years of his working life to the University, ten of these as Director of Scholarships. During his tenure, he developed the scholarships programme from a modest \u00a35,000 to \u00a34.3 million, one of the largest scholarship scheme of any university.<\/p>\n

When he retired in 2012, the Colin Matheson Scholarship was set up in his name in recognition of the thousands of students from all over the world that he helped in achieving their goals of studying in the UK. The Scholarship is designed to support talented students from developing countries to study for a full-time Masters within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. \u201cI have the pleasure of choosing the students,\u201d he explains. \u201cThey have to make an argument about why what they want to study is useful to the development of their nation or region. It\u2019s very heart breaking to make those decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a career spent devoted to opening doors for bright young people who may not otherwise be able to afford education, Colin decided that the best way to secure his legacy and make sure that future generations could continue enjoying the same opportunities was by pledging a gift to the University in his will. \u201cI intend to be very specific about what is done with my money,\u201d explains Colin. One of the things that I think is really important is that we contrive to offer full scholarships for international students. Because otherwise, all we are doing is reinforcing middle-class privilege. If we provide full scholarships, then the poorest students from the poorest areas can actually come here.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also don\u2019t believe the student has to have a first class degree. If someone comes from a deprived background then it would be much harder for them to achieve a really good degree than someone from a middle-class background, where they have had tutors and been to the best schools, when they are just as bright. I think it\u2019s nice to know that what you\u2019re doing will offer an opportunity that they would not have had otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leave a legacy today, transform lives tomorrow<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leaving a legacy is an ideal way to give a gift that you might not be able to give during your lifetime that will make a lasting impact on future generations of Westminster students.<\/p>\n

Did you know..
\n\u2022 Leaving a legacy is one of the easiest ways you can make a gift to the University.
\n\u2022 You can direct your gift to an area of the University\u2019s work you wish to support in particular.
\n\u2022 Making a legacy gift to the University is tax free and can reduce the tax you pay on your entire estate.<\/p>\n

If you would like to find out more about remembering the University in your will, then please contact our Development Office by phoning 020 3506 6245 or emailing development@westminster.ac.uk.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Colin Matheson dedicated over 30 years of loyal service to the University of Westminster. As Director of Scholarships, he was the driving force behind developing the scholarships programme into one of the largest of its kind in the UK and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":246,"featured_media":1257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[26,36],"class_list":["post-1253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni-stories","tag-development","tag-legacy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/246"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}