In these heady days of rap music, ecstasy and Myspace the average student couldn’t be further away from the supposedly mellow days of the 1960s. But a new initiative by Scottish folk singer Donovan could see the fire of Free Love reignited in the hearts and minds of the capital’s scholars through the art of meditation. Last week the 61 year-old veteran troubadour announced in a joint press conference with the cult US director David Lynch his plans to establish the ‘Invincible Donovan University’, a new higher education institution for Scotland where students will be required to meditate, listen to psychedelic tunes, and strive for the highest reaches of the transcendental plane.

The Glasgow-born singer, most famous for the hits 'Mellow Yellow' and 'Hurdy Gurdy Man', announced that the university’s curriculum would teach traditional university disciplines through the practice of transcendental meditation, a technique developed by the Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and once practiced by the Beatles. Intended to be situated in either Edinburgh or Glasgow he informed the press conference that the initiative’s ultimate aim was “to bring about world peace,” with Lynch, the cult director of Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet, declaring that it would be “a great university which will be a blessing for future students.”

Donovan, who later announced his plans to a sold out audience at Edinburgh’s Queens Hall, said he was receiving funding for the “consciousness based” university from the David Lynch Foundation and the Maharishi Central University in the United States. The pair have been staging events in locations across the world to promote the technique of transcendental meditation as a solution for tackling social problems such as crime, gang violence and underachieving school children. Lynch, who has been practicing the technique for 34 years, claimed that donations given through his charitable foundation to allow pupils to meditate have seen significant improvements in their academic results and creativity. The David Lynch Foundation was launched in 2005 with the aim of raising $7 billion for the promotion of "conciousness based education" and promoting world peace.

The singer added that he believed that the correct implementation of the technique could result in practitioners reaching a stage of "total enlightenment". This state of spiritual bliss would then spread among the Scottish population and result in "negativity" gradually being eradicated from the country. Once this stage had been reached, he said, no other nation would wish to attack Scotland and the country would become "invincible", hence the title of his university. The singer added that he hoped that, through this process, threats to world peace such as international terrorism would be eradicated.

While principally serving as the projects chief co-ordinator, Donovan also announced his intentions to teach at the university in order pass on his knowledge of transcendental meditation to the next generation of Scottish students. He first encountered the teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at the height of his fame whilst spending time in India with the Beatles. Later that night, where a video screen showed celebratory footage of the singer including John Lennon joking to Bob Dylan that “Donovan is much better than you”, he introduced the initiative to the crowd with a specially written song. Entitled ‘Invincible Donovan University’ he serenaded the audience with lyrics including “I feel the cosmos call/ the universe will shine/ the Invincible Donovan University”.

While some were not entirely convinced by the aging troubadour’s plans, with certain members of the Queens Hall audience leaving early after Donovan’s entrance onto the stage, others were more optimistic. “I think it is too easy to dismiss it all as nonsense”, said forth year Arabic student Sophia Goulandris. “I think that many people believe that the human brain often operates at only a small proportion of its potential and maybe transcendental meditation could help students to improve on that”.

Only time will tell whether prospective students of the Donovan Invincible University will agree.