WHEN Professor Anton Muscatelli was seven he wanted to be an astronaut.

It was an ambition which coincided with Neil Armstrong becoming the first man to walk on the moon in 1969. The mind of the young Muscatelli swirled with thoughts of distant stars and planets.

A teacher, seeing his growing collection of hand-drawn graphs and space-themed sketches, asked if he would like to give a talk to the class about astronomy. "I ended up preparing 30 diagrams of the solar system," recalls Muscatelli. "I remember regaling my classmates, who must have been bored to tears, with these children's drawings of the earth, moon, solar system and eclipses."

While he didn't become an astronaut, the incident did prove an auspicious portent to the life-long passion for learning and future career path in education which did await the principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Glasgow, a role Muscatelli has now held for six years.

Nor did he stop reaching for the stars, going on to build an internationally-respected reputation as an economist which has included being a consultant to the World Bank and the European Commission, a member of the Panel of Economic Advisers of the Secretary of State for Scotland and an adviser to the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee on monetary policy.

In 2008, Muscatelli served as chairman of an independent expert group for the Calman Commission on Devolution, set up by the Scottish Parliament and led by Sir Kenneth Calman, and last year became honorary president of the David Hume Institute, succeeding Lord Steel.

Yet, as the man himself cheerily admits, it was all down to an unexpected fork in the road back in the early 1980s. "It was totally unplanned," says Muscatelli. "Academic life wasn't my first choice. When I graduated I got a job as a trainee with a bank.

"An opportunity came up at the university for a one-year lectureship. They were struggling to fill it - those were different times - and I got a telephone call asking if I would be interested.

"It must have been a bad day at the bank," he jokes. "I thought it sounded interesting and that I would like to try my hand at teaching. I then drifted into academic life."

He makes it sound effortless, but there should be no underestimating the fierce ambition which has not only seen Muscatelli ascend the academic hierarchy over the past 30 years, but also forge the modern-day reputation of the University of Glasgow as a global player.

Muscatelli, now 53, first arrived in Scotland as a 12-year-old. His late father Ambrogio was head of a shipping company and the family previously spent several years living in the Netherlands after relocating from Mola di Bari in the south-east of Italy.

The economic uncertainty of the 1974 miners' strike saw them move back home before returning to Glasgow a year later. Muscatelli recalls it was initially a culture shock. "One of the things that struck me was how stratified things were socially in a way it wasn't in Italy or Holland," he says. "It wasn't the language, it was: 'Gosh, aren't people here aware of their status?'"

The family settled in Bearsden and Muscatelli attended the High School of Glasgow. He later headed to London to study physics at Imperial College but quickly found this wasn't his true calling.

"I changed to economics because by then I had developed quite a left-wing social conscience," he says. "This was the late 70s/early 80s. Unemployment was rising sharply, inflation was gripping the UK and there was social unrest. It was something I thought - naively perhaps - I could contribute to. I came back to Glasgow and studied economics."

Muscatelli completed his MA (Hons) in Political Economy in 1984, graduating with first class honours, although he admits he was just as likely to be spotted in the student union as the library. "I wasn't a bookworm," he says. "You would find me in the union bar at gigs."

He was also a member of the university volleyball club and enjoyed team sports such as football. "I regularly played five a-side football as a student and continued until my forties when I broke my leg while playing with friends," he says.

In tandem with his lecturing role, Muscatelli gained a PhD in economics and - aside from his time as principal and vice-chancellor of Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh from 2007 to 2009 - has walked the learned corridors of the University of Glasgow for close to 35 years.

He credits the "biggest influence in my life without a doubt" as his father, recounting how Ambrogio Muscatelli had his aspirations of a university education thwarted due to being unable to pay the fees.

"My memories are tales of economic recovery, modest beginnings and education being a hugely important way of improving yourself," says Muscatelli. "I was the first in my family to go to university."

Those formative years indelibly shaped his future outlook, not least having a bearing on his views regarding immigration - an area in which he believes we still have "a long way to go".

"We had a period when we had a post-study work visa regime in the UK which I think was a very helpful one," says Muscatelli. "Some other countries have been more open in that regard. We have always argued university students coming from overseas shouldn't be part of the net migration figure because these are people who intend to come here, stay for a time, contribute but then go back home. Those who stay have considerable human capital."

He has a self-effacing air, often so softly spoken it necessitates a well-cocked ear. His knack for a good yarn makes for entertaining company, his clever brown eyes dancing behind thick spectacles and beneath a distinguished shock of salt and pepper hair.

For the past five years, Muscatelli has been the driving force behind Glasgow 2020: A Global Vision, a strategy he describes as involving some "pretty radical change". This has included restructuring nine faculties into four colleges as well as placing renewed emphasis on research and creating a more culturally diverse environment.

It has seen the university grow its international reach with transnational education programmes in Singapore and China. There is also ongoing re-development that will transform the physical landscape of the campus within the west end of Glasgow.

Muscatelli rattles off some impressive stats: the number of international students has doubled in the past six years, with roughly one in four students from outside the UK. In addition, 25 per cent of home students come from the 40 per cent most deprived postcodes in the country. This latter figure, says Muscatelli, is "well ahead, not only of the other ancient universities in Scotland, but well ahead of many other universities full stop".

His current mandate as principal runs until 2019 and Muscatelli insists he will see it through but adds: "You have got to know when it is time to hang up your boots."

Away from work, Muscatelli, who lives in the west end of Glasgow with his family, lists his interests as opera, literature, strategic games, football and cookery.

"I do have eclectic tastes," he admits. "I enjoy cooking." What is his signature dish? "I'm pretty good at risottos, particularly seafood - I'm less good at desserts."

Muscatelli professes to be "genuinely excited by what every day brings" and insists he has been blessed to have lived a life largely unblighted by adversity.

"One of the things I enjoy about my current role is that it is hugely varied," he says. "I'm quite a positive person and what drives me is that every day brings new challenges and opportunities."