University of Aberdeen
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| Motto | Initium sapientiae timor domini (The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom) |
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| Established | 1495 |
| Rector | Robin Harper |
| Chancellor | Lord Wilson of Tillyorn |
| Principal | Prof C Duncan Rice |
| Staff | 717 |
| Students | 13,500 |
| Postgraduates | 3,000 |
| Location | Aberdeen, Scotland |
| Website | http://www.abdn.ac.uk/ |
The University of Aberdeen is one of the ancient universities of Scotland.
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[edit] History
The first university in Aberdeen, King's College, was founded in February 1495 by William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen. It was originally known as St. Mary's College. In April 1593 a second university, Marischal College, was founded by George Keith, the fifth Earl Marischal. It is often said that he desired a protestant institution alongside the pre-Reformation King's College, but King's had been protestant since 1569. It is possible that the founding of another college in nearby Fraserburgh in 1592 was the true cause; its founder Sir Alexander Fraser was a business rival of Marischal. The two universities in Aberdeen were merged on 15 September 1860 in accordance with the Universities (Scotland) Act 1858, which also created a new medical school at Marischal. The 1858 act stated that the "united University shall take rank among the Universities of Scotland as from the date of erection of King's College and University." The University is thus Scotland's third oldest and the United Kingdom's fifth oldest University.
[edit] Enrolment
In 2006-07, the number of full-time students at the Institution was over 13,900, including over 3,000 postgraduates. The university has more than 590 different first degree programmes and more than 110 postgraduate taught programmes.[1]
It is one of the most over-subscribed Universities in Scotland, with the number of applications said to be almost as many in number as the amount of students currently studying at the institution.[citation needed]
[edit] Organisation
Following reforms the university now encompasses three "colleges" rather than the previous five faculities.
[edit] College of Arts and Social Sciences
School of Divinity, History and Philosophy, School of Education, School of Language & Literature, School of Law, School of Social Science, University of Aberdeen Business School
[edit] College of Life Sciences and Medicine
School of Biological Sciences, School of Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, School of Psychology, Graduate School
[edit] College of Physical Sciences
- Main article: University of Aberdeen, College of Physical Sciences
School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, School of Geosciences, Graduate School
[edit] Architecture & buildings
The original buildings of both colleges are much admired architectural features of Aberdeen, though many newer campus buildings are of largely modernist style.
King's College forms a quadrangle with interior court, two sides of which have been rebuilt, and a library wing has been added. The Crown Tower and the Chapel, the oldest parts, date from 1500. The former is surmounted by a structure about 40 ft (12 m) high, consisting of a six-sided lantern and royal crown, both sculptured, and resting on the intersections of two arched ornamental slips rising from the four corners of the top of the tower. The choir of the chapel still contains the original oak canopied stalls, miserere seats, and lofty open screens in the French flamboyant style, and of unique beauty of design and execution. Their preservation was due to the enlightened energy of the principal at the time of the Reformation, who armed his folk to save the building from the barons of the Mearns after they had robbed St Machar's of its bells and lead. Today, King's returns the favour by providing needed funds for the university as it fulfils its sometime occupation as corporate reception and exhibition area.
Marischal College is a stately modern building, having been rebuilt in 1836-41, and greatly extended several years later at a cost of £100,000. The additions to the buildings opened by King Edward VII in 1906, form one of the most splendid examples of modern architecture in Great Britain; the architect, Alexander Marshall Mackenzie, a native of Aberdeen, having adapted his material, white granite, to the design of a noble building with the originality of genius. The beautiful Mitchell Tower is so named from the benefactor (Dr Charles Mitchell) who provided the splendid graduation hall. The opening of this tower in 1895 signalled the commemoration of the four hundredth anniversary of the foundation of the university. The building is now mostly let to the local authority, although the University retains the Marischal Museum and Mitchell Hall, which is used for graduation ceremonies.
A botanic garden was presented to the university in 1899.
The University Library comprises nearly 1,000,000 books. In April 2006 it was announced that a new £55.5 million library, designed by Danish architects Schmidt Hammer Lassen, will be constructed, to be completed in 2010. In addition to its expanded facilities it will also house the University's historic collections, comprising more than a quarter of a million ancient and priceless books and manuscripts that have been collected over five centuries since the University's foundations [1].
The University also includes more modern buildings, such as the Fraser Noble Building, with a distinctive concrete crown desigened to resemble the one adorning King's College, the Zoology Building, which has its own musium of natural history and the Meston Building, which is a mish-mash of many recent buildings which have seemingly grown together over recent years.
[edit] Alumni
Famous alumni of the University include:
- Dr Stephen Hendry — engineer
- Robert Adamson — philosopher
- Richard Baker — MSP
- Anne Begg — MP
- James Blair (clergyman) — founder of the College of William & Mary
- James Boyle (broadcasting) — arts supremo (honorary doctorate)
- Rhona Brankin — MSP
- Derek Brownlee — MSP
- Sir Colin Campbell — academic
- Nicky Campbell — radio/TV presenter
- Alistair Carmichael — MP
- William Robinson Clark, (1829-1912) — theologian.
- Alistair Darling — MP
- Andrew Drummond, translator and novelist
- Archibald Forbes — journalist
- John Alexander Forrest — Australian politician
- Sandy Gall — newsreader and journalist
- Tessa Jowell — politician
- James Legge — sinologist
- John James Richard Macleod — Nobel prize winner
- Stuart Macleod — magician
- Sir Patrick Manson — physician and "Father of Tropical Medicine"
- Nanette Milne — MSP
- Charles Mitchell — shipbuilder
- James Naughtie — radio presenter
- Tom Patey — mountaineer
- Derek Rae — football announcer for ESPN, was named Sony British Sports Broadcaster of the Year while still a student at Aberdeen
- Thomas Reid — philosopher
- Nicol Stephen — MSP
- Stewart Stevenson — MSP
- Sir Thomas Urquhart (1611 - c. 1660), translator and author
[edit] Student representation
The student body is represented at various levels within the University by a Students' Association known as Aberdeen University Students' Association (AUSA).
[edit] Partner universities
- University of Paisley, Scotland, UK. During the academic year 1995/96, the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC) introduced a 'twinning' programme to facilitate communication between Scotland's 'ancient' and newly upgraded universities.
The Robert Gordon University is also in Aberdeen.
[edit] External links
- University of Aberdeen website
- Postgraduate courses and graduate programmes at the University of Aberdeen
- Undergraduate courses and programmes at the University of Aberdeen
- Aberdeen University Students' Association
- Aberdeen University Student Forum (unofficial)
Aberdeen • Abertay • Dundee • Edinburgh • Glasgow • Glasgow Caledonian • Heriot-Watt • Napier • Paisley • Robert Gordon • St Andrews • Stirling • Strathclyde
