Scottish Universities Maintain their Excellence for Education and Research

Ancient origins and history of Scotland’s university system

The history of university education in Scotland goes back to the earliest days of the European Renaissance. Independently minded artists and thinkers were re-examining the Classical insight of Greek and Roman works, which had begun to flow back into the West from the Muslim world where in Arabic translation they had been preserved through Europe’s Dark Ages. It was in this climate of new inquiry that in 1413 Pope Benedict XIII issued a Papal Bull awarding university status to the existing school at St Andrews Cathedral, making it the first university in Scotland and one of only twenty-four in the world at the time. Further Papal Bulls followed in 1451 and 1495, incorporating the Universities of Glasgow and Aberdeen respectively. King James VI added the University of Edinburgh by Royal Charter in 1582.

Thus it remained for centuries, with Scotland boasting four universities in comparison to our much larger southern neighbour’s two. It was not until 1964 that another Scottish institution (the University of Strathclyde, which has been in existence under various names since 1796) was awarded university status. The 1960’s saw also the foundation of Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, and the Universities of Dundee and Stirling, as the post-war generation reached maturity and demanded educational opportunities that the resources did not yet exist to provide. Further expansion occurred in the 1990’s, when a number of former polytechnics and other colleges were upgraded to university status, adding Napier University in Edinburgh, Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, the University of Paisley (now the University of the West of Scotland, Renfrewshire), Glasgow Caledonian University, and the University of Abertay Dundee to the roster. Most recently, in 2007, what was Queen Margaret University College gained full university status, and opened its doors as Queen Margaret University.

Scottish Universities – World leading centres of research and innovation

Throughout the long history of Scotland’s universities, they have been world leading centres of research and innovation. Carbon dioxide was discovered at Edinburgh University by James Black; the structure of Saturn’s rings at Aberdeen University by James Clerk Maxwell; Lord Kelvin’s work on the Kelvin scale of absolute temperature measurement was carried out at Glasgow University. The quality of teaching at Scottish universities has matched the calibre of their research.

Celebrated alumni from history include:

• Adam Smith, founder of modern economics (Glasgow)
• Charles Darwin (Edinburgh)
• Nobel laureates John Boyd Orr and William Ramsay (Glasgow)
• Edward Jenner, discovered the smallpox vaccination (St Andrews)

More recent beneficiaries of a Scottish university education include:

• Christopher Bishop, Chief Research Scientist at Microsoft Research Cambridge (Edinburgh)
• BP Director David Blackwood (Glasgow)
• BBC correspondent Alan Johnston (Dundee)
• David Jones, co-creator of the bestselling Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto computer game series (Abertay)
• Prince William, heir to the British throne (St Andrews)

Scottish Universities – Research Assessment Exercise 2008

The Research Assessment Exercise evaluates research according to its originality, significance and rigour on a scale of 0*-4*, and in 2008 reviewed submissions from one hundred and fifty-nine institutions. Six universities were judged “internationally excellent” or better in more than 50% of departments, and twelve out of the fourteen Scottish universities assessed had more than 60% rated “internationally recognised” or better.

Among the Scottish universities examples of excellence which support the findings include:

• Edinburgh University’s new Informatics Forum, which opened in June 2008 to house the University’s world renowned School of Informatics. Bringing together Computer Science, Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence, the School of Informatics was rated higher than any other UK informatics department.
• £10m investment announced in May 2008 for the University of Dundee’s Scottish Institute of Cell Signalling, expanding the College of Life Sciences that was ranked in fifth overall place in the UK for quality of research.
• At St Andrews University, too, there is a major project underway to further improve teaching and research with £45m being spent on the new School of Medicine and Interdisciplinary Medical Research Institute. The institute is designed, among other goals, to foster collaboration between scientific researchers and medical practitioners in the hope of making faster advances in medical knowledge.

Scotland’s high and rising stature in the international academic community has been the result of long hours of diligent work by researchers and teachers, and by the administrators and fundraisers who have been able to secure for them the world class facilities they need.

Students in Scotland have the opportunity to learn from some of the finest minds in their chosen discipline, whatever that vocation might be, and to experience the life and culture of a country rich in academic history. More than that, they have the chance to be a part of forming the future, as some of the best-placed graduates to achieve success in business, the media, government and academia, as generations who passed through those halls before them have done.