Today, one of the most interesting and potentially influential initiatives in Scottish literary scholarship will be launched.

On this, the final day of the inaugural World Congress of Scottish Literatures, The International Association for the Study of Scottish Literatures (IASSL) comes into being, with the promise of spreading the teaching and research into Scottish literature in universities world-wide.

The World Congress would have been excitement enough for many of us. Certainly, a glance at the range of subjects it has been addressing in Glasgow this week would cheer anyone who fears that Scottish books, past and present, are not taken seriously enough. On the evidence of this clamjamfray, nothing could be further from the truth. Papers have included talks on reviving John Galt, Scottish writers in the South Seas, Kathleen Jamie's poetry and the work of Iain Banks and Alasdair Gray.

The brainchild of Professor Murray Pittock, Head of the College of Arts at the University of Glasgow, and his fellow professors Gerry Carruthers and Ian Brown, this five-day event, with over 200 delegates, has attracted excitement from the start. Usually, I'm told, the initial call for scholars to submit papers for academic conferences is followed by increasingly desperate reminders that there are spaces to be filled. In this instance, however, a single call produced such an enthusiastic response from academics - from Brazil, France, South Africa, and many more - that 70 papers had to be turned away.

The idea for this Congress was sparked by a similar event in Ireland four years ago. It is also no coincidence that Ireland also has an International Association for the Study of Irish Literatures, thanks to whose encouragement and advice, IASSL has been born. So what is its purpose?

The idea, says Professor Pittock, is to look at the way in which different countries study Scottish literature and culture, and to inspire even more universities to join them. The first such organisation to promote work on Scottish books and writers globally, IASSL is intended not only to bring together academics from all corners of the world already working in this area, but to inspire countries who as yet do not offer this subject to do so. Through social media, and academic exchanges, says Pittock, the spread and depth of knowledge can but grow.

Of course, some countries have already taken Scottish literature under their wing, few more eagerly than Canada, where countless Scots have emigrated over the centuries. Reflecting on the course he teaches, Professor Leith Davis of Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, comments: "Canadian students appreciate and understand Scottish writers' concerns with expressing their own local identities in the midst of the pressures of globalization and homogenization. Although many of my students are not familiar with Scotland, by the end of a course on Scottish literature, they have learned much about the cultural affinities between Scotland and Canada."

The timing of IASSL's launch is no accident, 2014 being "opportune", as Pittock drily says. Asked what effect a yes or no vote in the referendum might have, he replies that in either case there will be growing interest in Scottish culture. Should the yes camp win, however, this would become very pronounced indeed.

Pittock adds that, "even with no encouragement people internationally want to study it". Compared to some small countries, ours has a tradition of world-class writing. But it takes no imagination to appreciate what effect a concerted, united front would make to our literature's international status. Already I see Saltire-shaped paw marks heading off into the snows of Alaska, the cinders of Iceland, the Sahara desert. Every step they take refutes the fear that studying Scottish literature is parochial. To prove this, one need only look at how far our writers' work has already travelled. With IASSL's help, that journey should now move into a higher gear.