University of Aberdeen
Encyclopedia
The University of Aberdeen, an ancient university
founded in 1495, in Aberdeen
, Scotland
, is a British
university. It is the third oldest university in Scotland
, and the fifth oldest in the United Kingdom
and wider English-speaking world
. The modern University of Aberdeen was formed in 1860 by the merger of two pre-existing ancient universities: King's College
, located in Old Aberdeen and Marischal College
, founded in 1593 and located in the new city of Aberdeen
. The University is deeply embedded within the city, with many of the iconic buildings of King's College dominating Old Aberdeen
. The University features a large international community of students drawn from 120 different countries and with over 650 first degree programmes, the University has an excellent reputation for teaching quality and research.
Academics and graduates of the University include many distinguished and renowned figures of modern history, including physicist James Clerk Maxwell
, Thomas Reid
, the founder of the Scottish School of Common Sense, and an important figure in the Scottish Enlightenment
, philosopher Robert Adamson, educationalist and philosophy Alexander Bain
, and theologian William Robinson Clark
. Five Nobel winners are also associated with the University.
The University is consistently ranked with the top 150 universities in the world and is highly respected worldwide, especially in the domains of natural sciences, technology, and law.
The University of Aberdeen is one of the ancient universities of Scotland
. The first university in Aberdeen, King's College
, was founded in February 1495 by William Elphinstone
, Bishop of Aberdeen
and Chancellor
of Scotland
, drafting a request on behalf of King James IV
to Pope Alexander VI
resulting in a Papal Bull
being issued. The university was established near St Machar's Cathedral, and its chapel, consecrated in 1509, was dedicated to the Trinity and the Blessed Virgin Mary in her Nativity. The first principal was Hector Boece
, graduate and professor of the University of Paris
, who worked closely with Elphinstone to develop the university.
Following the Reformation
, King's College was purged of its Roman Catholic staff but in other respects was largely resistant to change. George Keith
, the fifth Earl Marischal
was a moderniser within the college and supportive of the reforming ideas of Peter Ramus. In April 1593 he consequently founded a second university in the city, Marischal College
. (It is noteworthy that Aberdeen was highly unusual at the time for having two universities in one city: as 20th-century University prospectuses wryly observed, Aberdeen alone had the same number as existed in all of England at the time.) It is also possible that the founding of another college in nearby Fraserburgh
by Sir Alexander Fraser, a business rival of Keith, was instrumental in its creation.
Initially, Marischal College offered the Principal of King's College a role in selecting its academics, but this was refused by the King's authorities - cited as the first blow in a future rivalry. Marischal College, being located in the commercial heart of the city rather than the ancient but much smaller collegiate enclave of King's in Old Aberdeen, was quite different in nature and outlook, very much integrated into the life of the city, for example allowing its students to live outwith the College. The two rival colleges often clashed, sometimes more abstractly in legal matters, but not infrequently also more physically in brawls between students on the streets of Aberdeen itself.
As the institutions eventually began to put aside their differences a process of attempted (but unconsummated) mergers began in the seventeenth century and it was during this time that notable contributions were made by both to the Scottish Enlightenment
. Both Colleges supported the Jacobite
cause and following the defeat of the 1715 rising both were largely purged of their academics and officials.
in 1641. The final unification was brought following the ratification of Parliament by Oliver Cromwell
during the interregnum
in 1654. This united university survived until the Restoration
whereby all laws made during this period were rescinded by Charles II and the two colleges reverted to independent status. Charles I is still recognised as one of the university's seven Founders, due to his part in creating the Caroline University and his benevolence towards King's College. Further unsuccessful suggestions for union were brought about throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries.
The two universities in Aberdeen were finally 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.
The university's coat of arms
display the founders and locations of the previous two colleges. Top left is the arms of the burgh of Old Aberdeen
. Top right is that of George Keith, the fifth Earl Marischal
. Bottom left belongs to Bishop William Elphinstone
. The bottom right quarter is a simplified version of the usual symbol (of three castles) representing the burgh and now City of Aberdeen.
as its new headquarters.
Construction work began in 2009 on a £57 million new central library on campus to replace the existing Queen Mother Library. It is expected to open in summer 2011.
The University was the first in Scotland to announce a rise in their tuition fees from £1,820 to £9,000 per year, for a maximum of three years for non-Scots British students. This follows as a response to the rise in tuition fees in the rest of the UK.
In common with the other ancient universities in Scotland, the university's structure of governance is largely regulated by the Universities (Scotland) Acts. This gives the university a tripartite constitution comprising the General Council
of senior academics and graduates, the University Court
responsible for finances and administration, and the Academic Senate
(Senatus Academicus)--the university's supreme academic body.
There are correspondingly three main officers of the university. It is nominally headed by the Chancellor, a largely ceremonial position traditionally held by the Bishop of Aberdeen
but divorced from the see as a result of the Scottish Reformation
and holders are now elected for life by the General Council. There is also a Rector of the University
, who chairs the University Court and is elected by the students for a three-year term to represent their interests.
The administrative head and chief executive of the university is its Principal and Vice Chancellor. The Principal acts as chair of the Senatus Academicus and his status as Vice Chancellor enables him to perform the functions reserved to the Chancellor in the latter's absence, such as the awarding of degrees.
, a retired diplomat and former Governor of Hong Kong
. The Chancellor, or, if necessary, his deputy, confers degrees on graduates and chairs the university's General Council.
, a local comedian and former solicitor. He was elected in 2008. In 10/11/2011 a new Rector was elected by the student body of the University, Maitland Mackie, a businessman owner of the family business Mackies.
of the university is Ian Diamond
, since 2010 April 1. He took over from Professor Sir Duncan Rice
who was Principal and Vice Chancellor since September 1996.
University Rankings
There are also a number of Research Centres and Institutes
and is supported by:
King's College campus covers an area of some 35 hectares, formed around the ancient King's College
buildings. It hosts around two-thirds of the university's built estate, and lies 2 miles north of Aberdeen
city centre.
The historic King's College buildings form a quadrangle
with interior court, two sides of which have been rebuilt and expanded with a library wing. The Crown Tower and the Chapel, the oldest parts, date from around 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. They were preserved by the college's Principal during the Reformation
, who fought off local barons who had attacked the nearby St Machar's Cathedral. The library wing has now been converted into an exhibition and conference venue.
The first of the modern age of construction in the King's campus began with the construction in 1913 of the New Building (informally known as "New King's"), largely in a similar architectural style to the old buildings. New King's groups to form a yet larger quadrangle-like green for the campus also bordered by the High Street, King's and Elphinstone Hall
, a traditional 1930 replacement for the Great Hall, which was turned into the library and later into university auditorium.
The Queen Mother Library is the university's current main library, one of the major facilities on King's College campus. The five-storey modernist structure houses some one million books. In April 2006 it was announced that a new £58 million library, designed by Danish architects schmidt hammer lassen
, will be constructed, to be completed in 2011. 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.
King's College campus also includes other modern buildings; some, such as the Fraser Noble Building, with a distinctive concrete crown designed to resemble the one adorning King's College, echo the existing architecture of Old Aberdeen
. Also on the site is the Cruickshank Botanic Garden
which was presented to the university in 1899.
Marischal College
is a stately neo-Gothic building, having been rebuilt in 1836-41, and greatly extended several years later. The additions to the buildings opened by King Edward VII
in 1906, form one of the most splendid examples of neo-Gothic 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 to noteworthy effect. 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. Formerly an open three-sided court, the college now forms a quadrangle.
The building is now mostly let to Aberdeen City Council
, although the University controls the north wing of the building containing the Marischal Museum and Mitchell Hall, which is used for graduation and other academic ceremonies.
. The 41 hectare site is split between the university (owning around a third) and Grampian University Hospital NHS Trust
.
(AUSA). Additionally, the elected Rector of the University of Aberdeen
serves along with the Rector's Assessor and AUSA President as a students' representatives on the University Court.
Following financial problems in the early 2000s, AUSA ceased to provide a traditional Students' Union for its members. The organisation has been involved in the creation of "The Hub", a university-owned student dining and social centre created out of the former Central Refectory in King's College campus, which opened in 2006.
During term time, AUSA publishes a fortnightly student newspaper called the Gaudie
and hosts a radio station, Aberdeen Student Radio.
The oldest student organisation at the university is the Aberdeen University Debater, the university's debating union, constituted in 1848. The first successful university newspaper, Alma Mater, began under the auspices of the Debater in 1883. In 1884, the Debater also took the first steps towards the introduction of a Students' Representative Council
under support from Alexander Bain
the then Rector.
The creation of the Union in 1895 provided a new debating chamber in Marischal College and the first permanent home of the society. The chamber beneath Mitchell Hall in Marischal College is the oldest purpose-built debating chamber in Scotland. For a time immediately after the turn of the century both the Union and the society were organising debates, which ultimately led to a merger in 1913 before being revived as separate institutions in 1920.
The students' association is responsible for sport at the university, which is managed by the Aberdeen University Sports Union
, an AUSA committee.
The Aberdeen Future Fund is run by the Development Trust, a registered charity of Scotland, which seeks positive relationships and generosity of Aberdeen Alumni, in order to contribute to the high quality student experiences. Since founding in 1998, Aberdeen Future Fund has raised over £2.5 Million of unrestricted funds, thanks in large part to alumni. The individuals who speak to alumni to create and develop these relationships are students of the University of Aberdeen, so alumni can relate to younger generations through the University. Projects supported in the 2010/2011 year included The New Library, Sports clubs and societies, student scholarships, and medical research. Past projects have included a book fund for the Heavy Demand section, providing Safe Campus leaflets, the Hardship fund, providing funds for training mannequins for Clinical Skills, the organ for King's College Chapel, and funding for intra-mural sports.
Following their first year, the majority of students opt to live in private accommodation off of the main university campus, although in recent years, prices and availability of accommodation has seen more second and third year students returning to university halls. This has forced the university to write to all students in university accommodation, in February 2008 and 2009, to let them know that accommodation will be reserved for first year students only in the academic year to follow.
The University has advertised a First-Year Accommodation Guarantee in recent years, but due to the high demand for homes in the rapidly growing city it has become increasingly difficult to fulfill the guarantee. At the start of the 2007-2008 term, the university ran out of rooms, and had to resort to temporary accommodation (including putting students into hotel rooms, and making kitchens, study rooms and common rooms into dorm rooms).
On 15 January 2011, officers from Grampian Police were called to an incident at Hillhead Halls in which a man was sectioned under the Mental Health Act
. A Royal Navy
Bomb Disposal Unit
was later called in with students being evacuated from Esslemont House as a precaution.
, an AUSA committee.
There are sports facilities at the back of King's College. Adjacent to the King's College playing fields is the
Aberdeen Sports Village, a partnership between the University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen City Council
and sportscotland
. The venue includes a nine-court indoor hall, full-sized synthetic football pitch, fitness suite, squash courts and a sports performance lab among other facilities. The £28 million development on the site of the former Chris Anderson Stadium, opened on 24 August 2009. A 50m swimming pool is to be constructed in the site by end of 2014.
Many distinguished and renowned figures have studied at the University of Aberdeen. Most recently it has produced several leading figures in the UK Government, including the former Chancellor of the Exchequer
, Alistair Darling
and the former Paymaster General, Tessa Jowell
. Additionally, famous businessmen such as Stephen Carter
and Will Whitehorn
matriculated at UoA. Radio and television personalities such as Nicky Campbell
, James Naughtie
, Sandy Gall
and Derek Rae
were also students here.
The University is well known in philosophical and theological circles. Thomas Reid
, the founder of the Scottish School of Common Sense, and an important figure in the Scottish Enlightenment
, earned his degree from Marischal College
. Robert Adamson and theologian William Robinson Clark
also went here. Other academics who started here include Andrew Ross, Colin Campbell and James Legge
. Prizes awarded to alumni include the Lumsden and Sachs Fellowship
.
Alumni of the medical faculty include Patrick Manson
, who made important discoveries in parasitology
, founder of the tropical medicine
field and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Manson also found Dairy Farm
in 1886, now a leading pan-Asian retailer and a listed company on the London Stock Exchange
. The Kai Tak Airport
was namesaked after Kai Ho
, who along with Patrick Manson and Graeme Cantlie established the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese
in 1887, which later became University of Hong Kong in 1911.
Ali Smith
, the author of the Booker Prize nominated novel Hotel World
and the Whitbread Award winning novel The Accidental
, took her undergraduate degree here. Contemporary playwright Simon Farquhar
; science fiction writer Adam Roberts
, Thomas Urquhart
and Archibald Forbes
are also alumni known in literary circles.
Those known in architectural circles include William Thornton
, the designer of the United States Capitol
and Charles Mitchell who worked with John Dobson
and commissioned the elegant art nouveau church of St George's Jesmond from Thomas Ralph Spence.
Other figures include botanists C. H. Gimingham
and M. R. Henderson
; plant pathologist Lawrence Ogilvie
; ornithologist
J. D. Macdonald
; actor Iain Glen
; mountaineer Tom Patey
; Colonial Secretary
of Hong Kong
Frederick Stewart
; former leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats
, Nicol Stephen
; Taliban kidnap victim Linda Norgrove; and James Blair, the founder of the College of William and Mary
in Williamsburg
, Virginia
, USA; also William Gregg, Spy
, studied Divinity
at King's College
, executed by Hanging
1708.
Ancient university
Ancient university is a term used to describe seven medieval and renaissance universities of the United Kingdom and Ireland that exist today. Six of those universities are currently located in the United Kingdom and one in the Republic of Ireland...
founded in 1495, in Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
university. It is the third oldest university in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, and the fifth oldest in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and wider English-speaking world
English-speaking world
The English-speaking world consists of those countries or regions that use the English language to one degree or another. For more information, please see:Lists:* List of countries by English-speaking population...
. The modern University of Aberdeen was formed in 1860 by the merger of two pre-existing ancient universities: King's College
King's College, Aberdeen
King's College in Old Aberdeen, Scotland is a formerly independent university founded in 1495 and an integral part of the University of Aberdeen...
, located in Old Aberdeen and Marischal College
Marischal College
Marischal College is a building and former university in the centre of the city of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland. The building is owned by the University of Aberdeen and used for ceremonial events...
, founded in 1593 and located in the new city of Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
. The University is deeply embedded within the city, with many of the iconic buildings of King's College dominating Old Aberdeen
Old Aberdeen
Old Aberdeen is part of the city of Aberdeen in Scotland. Old Aberdeen was originally a separate burgh, which was erected into a burgh of barony on 26 December 1489. It was incorporated into adjacent Aberdeen by Act of Parliament in 1891...
. The University features a large international community of students drawn from 120 different countries and with over 650 first degree programmes, the University has an excellent reputation for teaching quality and research.
Academics and graduates of the University include many distinguished and renowned figures of modern history, including physicist James Clerk Maxwell
James Clerk Maxwell
James Clerk Maxwell of Glenlair was a Scottish physicist and mathematician. His most prominent achievement was formulating classical electromagnetic theory. This united all previously unrelated observations, experiments and equations of electricity, magnetism and optics into a consistent theory...
, Thomas Reid
Thomas Reid
The Reverend Thomas Reid FRSE , was a religiously trained Scottish philosopher, and a contemporary of David Hume, was the founder of the Scottish School of Common Sense, and played an integral role in the Scottish Enlightenment...
, the founder of the Scottish School of Common Sense, and an important figure in the Scottish Enlightenment
Scottish Enlightenment
The Scottish Enlightenment was the period in 18th century Scotland characterised by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments. By 1750, Scots were among the most literate citizens of Europe, with an estimated 75% level of literacy...
, philosopher Robert Adamson, educationalist and philosophy Alexander Bain
Alexander Bain
Alexander Bain was a Scottish philosopher and educationalist in the British school of empiricism who was a prominent and innovative figure in the fields of psychology, linguistics, logic, moral philosophy and education reform...
, and theologian William Robinson Clark
William Robinson Clark
William Robinson Clark FRSC was a Scottish-Canadian theologian. He was born in Daviot, Aberdeenshire, son of James Clark. Originally educated for the Congregationalist ministry at New College London, he later conformed to the Church of England. After graduating from King's College, Aberdeen MA...
. Five Nobel winners are also associated with the University.
The University is consistently ranked with the top 150 universities in the world and is highly respected worldwide, especially in the domains of natural sciences, technology, and law.
King's and Marischal Colleges
- See also King's College, AberdeenKing's College, AberdeenKing's College in Old Aberdeen, Scotland is a formerly independent university founded in 1495 and an integral part of the University of Aberdeen...
and Marischal CollegeMarischal CollegeMarischal College is a building and former university in the centre of the city of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland. The building is owned by the University of Aberdeen and used for ceremonial events...
for history pre-1860
The University of Aberdeen is one of the ancient universities of Scotland
Ancient universities of Scotland
The ancient universities of Scotland are medieval and renaissance universities which continue to exist until the present day. The majority of the ancient universities of the British Isles are located within Scotland, and have a number of distinctive features in common, being governed by a series of...
. The first university in Aberdeen, King's College
King's College, Aberdeen
King's College in Old Aberdeen, Scotland is a formerly independent university founded in 1495 and an integral part of the University of Aberdeen...
, was founded in February 1495 by William Elphinstone
William Elphinstone
William Elphinstone was a Scottish statesman, Bishop of Aberdeen and founder of the University of Aberdeen.He was born in Glasgow, and educated at the University of Glasgow, taking the degree of M.A. in 1452. After practising for a short time as a lawyer in the church courts, he was ordained a...
, Bishop of Aberdeen
Bishop of Aberdeen
The Bishop of Aberdeen was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Aberdeen, one of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics, whose first recorded bishop is an early 12th century cleric named Nechtan...
and Chancellor
Chancellor
Chancellor is the title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the Cancellarii of Roman courts of justice—ushers who sat at the cancelli or lattice work screens of a basilica or law court, which separated the judge and counsel from the...
of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, drafting a request on behalf of King James IV
James IV of Scotland
James IV was King of Scots from 11 June 1488 to his death. He is generally regarded as the most successful of the Stewart monarchs of Scotland, but his reign ended with the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Flodden Field, where he became the last monarch from not only Scotland, but also from all...
to Pope Alexander VI
Pope Alexander VI
Pope Alexander VI , born Roderic Llançol i Borja was Pope from 1492 until his death on 18 August 1503. He is one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, and his Italianized surname—Borgia—became a byword for the debased standards of the Papacy of that era, most notoriously the Banquet...
resulting in a Papal Bull
Papal bull
A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....
being issued. The university was established near St Machar's Cathedral, and its chapel, consecrated in 1509, was dedicated to the Trinity and the Blessed Virgin Mary in her Nativity. The first principal was Hector Boece
Hector Boece
Hector Boece , known in Latin as Hector Boecius or Boethius, was a Scottish philosopher and first Principal of King's College in Aberdeen, a predecessor of the University of Aberdeen.-Biography:He was born in Dundee where he attended school...
, graduate and professor of the University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
, who worked closely with Elphinstone to develop the university.
Scottish Reformation
The Scottish Reformation was Scotland's formal break with the Papacy in 1560, and the events surrounding this. It was part of the wider European Protestant Reformation; and in Scotland's case culminated ecclesiastically in the re-establishment of the church along Reformed lines, and politically in...
, King's College was purged of its Roman Catholic staff but in other respects was largely resistant to change. George Keith
George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal
George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal was a Scottish nobleman and Earl Marischal. He succeeded as earl on 7 October 1581, upon the death of his grandfather, William Keith, 4th Earl Marischal....
, the fifth Earl Marischal
Earl Marischal
The title of Earl Marischal was created in the peerage of Scotland for William Keith, the Great Marischal of Scotland.The office of "Marischal of Scotland" had been held heritably by the senior member of the Keith family since Hervey de Keith, who held the office of Marischal under Malcolm IV and...
was a moderniser within the college and supportive of the reforming ideas of Peter Ramus. In April 1593 he consequently founded a second university in the city, Marischal College
Marischal College
Marischal College is a building and former university in the centre of the city of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland. The building is owned by the University of Aberdeen and used for ceremonial events...
. (It is noteworthy that Aberdeen was highly unusual at the time for having two universities in one city: as 20th-century University prospectuses wryly observed, Aberdeen alone had the same number as existed in all of England at the time.) It is also possible that the founding of another college in nearby Fraserburgh
Fraserburgh
Fraserburgh is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland with a population recorded in the 2001 Census at 12,454 and estimated at 12,630 in 2006. It lies at the extreme northeast corner of Aberdeenshire, around north of Aberdeen, and north of Peterhead...
by Sir Alexander Fraser, a business rival of Keith, was instrumental in its creation.
Initially, Marischal College offered the Principal of King's College a role in selecting its academics, but this was refused by the King's authorities - cited as the first blow in a future rivalry. Marischal College, being located in the commercial heart of the city rather than the ancient but much smaller collegiate enclave of King's in Old Aberdeen, was quite different in nature and outlook, very much integrated into the life of the city, for example allowing its students to live outwith the College. The two rival colleges often clashed, sometimes more abstractly in legal matters, but not infrequently also more physically in brawls between students on the streets of Aberdeen itself.
As the institutions eventually began to put aside their differences a process of attempted (but unconsummated) mergers began in the seventeenth century and it was during this time that notable contributions were made by both to the Scottish Enlightenment
Scottish Enlightenment
The Scottish Enlightenment was the period in 18th century Scotland characterised by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments. By 1750, Scots were among the most literate citizens of Europe, with an estimated 75% level of literacy...
. Both Colleges supported the Jacobite
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
cause and following the defeat of the 1715 rising both were largely purged of their academics and officials.
The University of Aberdeen's creation
The nearest the two colleges had come to full union was as the "Caroline University of Aberdeen", a merger initiated by Charles I of ScotlandCharles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
in 1641. The final unification was brought following the ratification of Parliament by Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
during the interregnum
English Interregnum
The English Interregnum was the period of parliamentary and military rule by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the Commonwealth of England after the English Civil War...
in 1654. This united university survived until the Restoration
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
whereby all laws made during this period were rescinded by Charles II and the two colleges reverted to independent status. Charles I is still recognised as one of the university's seven Founders, due to his part in creating the Caroline University and his benevolence towards King's College. Further unsuccessful suggestions for union were brought about throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries.
The two universities in Aberdeen were finally 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
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
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
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
's fifth oldest University.
The university's coat of arms
Coat of arms
A coat of arms is a unique heraldic design on a shield or escutcheon or on a surcoat or tabard used to cover and protect armour and to identify the wearer. Thus the term is often stated as "coat-armour", because it was anciently displayed on the front of a coat of cloth...
display the founders and locations of the previous two colleges. Top left is the arms of the burgh of Old Aberdeen
Old Aberdeen
Old Aberdeen is part of the city of Aberdeen in Scotland. Old Aberdeen was originally a separate burgh, which was erected into a burgh of barony on 26 December 1489. It was incorporated into adjacent Aberdeen by Act of Parliament in 1891...
. Top right is that of George Keith, the fifth Earl Marischal
George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal
George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal was a Scottish nobleman and Earl Marischal. He succeeded as earl on 7 October 1581, upon the death of his grandfather, William Keith, 4th Earl Marischal....
. Bottom left belongs to Bishop William Elphinstone
William Elphinstone
William Elphinstone was a Scottish statesman, Bishop of Aberdeen and founder of the University of Aberdeen.He was born in Glasgow, and educated at the University of Glasgow, taking the degree of M.A. in 1452. After practising for a short time as a lawyer in the church courts, he was ordained a...
. The bottom right quarter is a simplified version of the usual symbol (of three castles) representing the burgh and now City of Aberdeen.
The modern university
The relationship of the two ex-college campuses has changed over the years. While at the time of unification there were roughly equal numbers in each, Marischal began an expansion in the later nineteenth century with a significant rebuilding effort ending in 1906. However in more recent years, the teaching of medicine has gravitated towards the university's Foresterhill Hospital site and science and engineering teaching activities towards King's, which has benefited from its distance from the centre of Aberdeen and expanded from its traditional collegiate appearance to a modern campus with the traditional buildings at its heart. There are no longer any students being taught at the Marischal College campus as the building is currently being refurbished by Aberdeen City CouncilAberdeen City Council
Aberdeen City Council represents the Aberdeen City council area of Scotland.The council area was created in 1996, under the Local Government etc. Act 1994...
as its new headquarters.
Construction work began in 2009 on a £57 million new central library on campus to replace the existing Queen Mother Library. It is expected to open in summer 2011.
The University was the first in Scotland to announce a rise in their tuition fees from £1,820 to £9,000 per year, for a maximum of three years for non-Scots British students. This follows as a response to the rise in tuition fees in the rest of the UK.
Governance
- Main Article Ancient university governance in ScotlandAncient university governance in ScotlandThe ancient university governance structure in Scotland is the organisational system imposed by the Universities Acts, a series of Acts of Parliament enacted between 1858 and 1966. The Acts applied to what were termed the 'older universities': the University of St Andrews, the University of...
In common with the other ancient universities in Scotland, the university's structure of governance is largely regulated by the Universities (Scotland) Acts. This gives the university a tripartite constitution comprising the General Council
General Council (Scottish university)
The General Council of an ancient university in Scotland is the corporate body of all graduates and senior academics of each university. They were instituted by the Universities Act 1858, but each has had its constitution and organisation considerably altered by subsequent statutes.The Act of...
of senior academics and graduates, the University Court
University Court
A University Court is an administrative body of a university in the United Kingdom. In England's Oxbridge such a Court carries out limited judicial functions; whereas in Scotland it is a University's supreme governing body, analogous to a Board of Directors or a Board of Trustees.-England:In the...
responsible for finances and administration, and the Academic Senate
Academic Senate
An Academic Senate is a governing body in some universities and colleges, and is typically the supreme academic authority for the institution.-Scotland:...
(Senatus Academicus)--the university's supreme academic body.
There are correspondingly three main officers of the university. It is nominally headed by the Chancellor, a largely ceremonial position traditionally held by the Bishop of Aberdeen
Bishop of Aberdeen
The Bishop of Aberdeen was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Aberdeen, one of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics, whose first recorded bishop is an early 12th century cleric named Nechtan...
but divorced from the see as a result of the Scottish Reformation
Scottish Reformation
The Scottish Reformation was Scotland's formal break with the Papacy in 1560, and the events surrounding this. It was part of the wider European Protestant Reformation; and in Scotland's case culminated ecclesiastically in the re-establishment of the church along Reformed lines, and politically in...
and holders are now elected for life by the General Council. There is also a Rector of the University
Rector of the University of Aberdeen
The Lord Rector of the University of Aberdeen is the students' representative and chairman in the University Court of the University of Aberdeen. The position is rarely known by its full title and most often referred to simply as "Rector". The Rector is elected by students of the University and...
, who chairs the University Court and is elected by the students for a three-year term to represent their interests.
The administrative head and chief executive of the university is its Principal and Vice Chancellor. The Principal acts as chair of the Senatus Academicus and his status as Vice Chancellor enables him to perform the functions reserved to the Chancellor in the latter's absence, such as the awarding of degrees.
Chancellor
The Chancellor is the nominal head of the university. The current Chancellor since 1997 is David Wilson, Baron Wilson of TillyornDavid Wilson, Baron Wilson of Tillyorn
David Clive Wilson, Baron Wilson of Tillyorn, is a retired British administrator, diplomat and Sinologist. Lord Wilson of Tillyorn was the penultimate Commander-in-Chief and 27th Governor of Hong Kong...
, a retired diplomat and former Governor of Hong Kong
Governor of Hong Kong
The Governor of Hong Kong was the head of the government of Hong Kong during British rule from 1843 to 1997. The governor's roles were defined in the Hong Kong Letters Patent and Royal Instructions...
. The Chancellor, or, if necessary, his deputy, confers degrees on graduates and chairs the university's General Council.
Lord Rector
The Rector of the university has been—since 1860—elected by the students to serve a three-year term of office; before that, the office was appointed. His duties are to chair meetings of the University Court and to represent student views on that body. The incumbent Rector is Stephen Robertson MBEScotland the What?
Scotland the What? were a Scottish comedy revue act comprising William "Buff" Hardie, Stephen Robertson and George Donald.Buff Hardie and Steve Robertson first met in the Aberdeen Student Show in 1952. George Donald, another University of Aberdeen student, wrote music for the 1954 Student Show, but...
, a local comedian and former solicitor. He was elected in 2008. In 10/11/2011 a new Rector was elected by the student body of the University, Maitland Mackie, a businessman owner of the family business Mackies.
Principal and vice-chancellor
The principal and vice-chancellorChancellor (education)
A chancellor or vice-chancellor is the chief executive of a university. Other titles are sometimes used, such as president or rector....
of the university is Ian Diamond
Ian Diamond
Professor Ian Diamond is the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen. Previous appointments include Chief Executive of the Economic and Social Research Council, Chair of the Research Councils UK Executive Group and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Southampton....
, since 2010 April 1. He took over from Professor Sir Duncan Rice
Duncan Rice
Professor Sir Duncan Rice was Principal of the University of Aberdeen from September 1996 till 1 April 2010. He was previously Dean of the Faculty , and Vice-Chancellor at New York University in the United States.-Early life:...
who was Principal and Vice Chancellor since September 1996.
University RankingsLeague tables of British universitiesRankings of universities in the United Kingdom are published annually by The Guardian, The Independent, The Sunday Times and The Times...
| League Table | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 | 1995 | 1994 | 1993 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Times Good University Guide | 42 | 33 | 33 | 26 | 32 | 36 | 28 | 34= | 20 | 19 | 19 | 26= | 26= | 36 | 33 | 28= | 35= | 41= | 35= | 29= |
| Sunday Times University Guide | 42 | - | 27 | 34 | 34 | 35 | 37 | 39 | 44 | 50 | 48 | 49 | 37 | 44 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Guardian University Guide | 45 | 33 | 34 | 23 | 26 | - | 52 | 35 | 66 | 44 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| The Complete University Guide | 46 | 44 | 47 | 39 | 33 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| FT | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 30 | - | 31 | 32 | 37 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| The Daily Telegraph | - | - | - | - | - | 33 | - | 61 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| QS World University Rankings QS World University Rankings The QS World University Rankings is a ranking of the world’s top 500 universities by Quacquarelli Symonds using a method that has published annually since 2004.... |
- | 141 | 117 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| THE International Rankings | - | 151 | 149 | 129 | 153 | 137 | 195 | 267 | 194 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Academic structure
The university is divided into three colleges, which are further separated into a number of academic schools and other institutions.College of Arts and Social Sciences
The College is separated into a number of academic schools:- University of Aberdeen Business School
- School of Divinity, History and Philosophy
-
- Department of Divinity and Religious Studies
- Department of History of Art
- Department of History (including Cultural History)
- Department of Philosophy
- School of Education
- School of Language and Literature
- Department of English (including Literature)
- Department of Language and Linguistics
- Department of Film and Visual Culture
- Department of Modern Languages (including French, Celtic, German, and Hispanic Studies)
- School of LawUniversity of Aberdeen School of LawThe School of Law at the University of Aberdeen dates back to the University's foundation in 1495. Today, it is one of the largest law schools in Scotland, admitting some two hundred and fifty students each year, as well as over forty international exchange students...
- School of Social Science
- School of Law
- Department of Anthropology
- Department of Politics and International Relations
- Centre for the Study of Public Policy
- Department of Sociology
- Graduate School
There are also a number of Research Centres and Institutes
College of Life Sciences and Medicine
The College is separated into four academic schools:- School of Biological Sciences
- School of Medical Sciences
- School of Medicine and Dentistry
- School of Psychology
and is supported by:
- Graduate School
- Institute of Applied Health Sciences
- Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences
- Institute of Medical Sciences
College of Physical Sciences
The College is divided into three academic schools and a number of research centres:- School of Engineering
-
- Electrical & Electronic Engineering Professional Group
- Chemical Engineering Professional Group
- Civil Engineering Professional Group
- Mechanical Engineering Professional Group
- School of Geosciences:
-
- Department of Archaeology
- Department of Geography and Environment
- Department of Geology and Petroleum Geology
- Department of Spatial Planning and Rural Surveying
- Graduate Studies
- School of Natural and Computing Sciences:
-
- Department of Chemistry
- Department of Computing Science
- Department of Mathematics
- Department of Physics
- College Research Centres:
-
- Aberdeen Institute for Coastal Science and Management
- Institute of Energy Technologies
- Institute for Transport and Rural Research
Locations
The original buildings of both colleges which united to form the University are much admired architectural features of Aberdeen. Many newer campus buildings are of largely modernist style and focused around the expanding campus around King's College, which now hosts all of the university's teaching facilities outside of the two more recent sites: Foresterhill and Hilton, home to the faculties of Medicine and Education respectively.King's College
See also: King's College, AberdeenKing's College, Aberdeen
King's College in Old Aberdeen, Scotland is a formerly independent university founded in 1495 and an integral part of the University of Aberdeen...
King's College, Aberdeen
King's College in Old Aberdeen, Scotland is a formerly independent university founded in 1495 and an integral part of the University of Aberdeen...
buildings. It hosts around two-thirds of the university's built estate, and lies 2 miles north of Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
city centre.
The historic King's College buildings form a quadrangle
Quadrangle (architecture)
In architecture, a quadrangle is a space or courtyard, usually rectangular in plan, the sides of which are entirely or mainly occupied by parts of a large building. The word is probably most closely associated with college or university campus architecture, but quadrangles may be found in other...
with interior court, two sides of which have been rebuilt and expanded with a library wing. The Crown Tower and the Chapel, the oldest parts, date from around 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
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
of the chapel still contains the original oak canopied stalls, miserere seats, and lofty open screens in the French flamboyant style. They were preserved by the college's Principal during the Reformation
Scottish Reformation
The Scottish Reformation was Scotland's formal break with the Papacy in 1560, and the events surrounding this. It was part of the wider European Protestant Reformation; and in Scotland's case culminated ecclesiastically in the re-establishment of the church along Reformed lines, and politically in...
, who fought off local barons who had attacked the nearby St Machar's Cathedral. The library wing has now been converted into an exhibition and conference venue.
Elphinstone Hall
Elphinstone Hall is part of King's College, Aberdeen at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland which replaced the Common Hall. It is named after Bishop William Elphinstone, the founder of the University.-History:...
, a traditional 1930 replacement for the Great Hall, which was turned into the library and later into university auditorium.
The Queen Mother Library is the university's current main library, one of the major facilities on King's College campus. The five-storey modernist structure houses some one million books. In April 2006 it was announced that a new £58 million library, designed by Danish architects schmidt hammer lassen
Schmidt hammer lassen
Schmidt hammer lassen architects is an international architectural practice founded in 1986 in Aarhus, Denmark. It currently has four offices in Aarhus, Copenhagen, Oslo and London....
, will be constructed, to be completed in 2011. 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.
King's College campus also includes other modern buildings; some, such as the Fraser Noble Building, with a distinctive concrete crown designed to resemble the one adorning King's College, echo the existing architecture of Old Aberdeen
Old Aberdeen
Old Aberdeen is part of the city of Aberdeen in Scotland. Old Aberdeen was originally a separate burgh, which was erected into a burgh of barony on 26 December 1489. It was incorporated into adjacent Aberdeen by Act of Parliament in 1891...
. Also on the site is the Cruickshank Botanic Garden
Cruickshank Botanic Garden
The Cruickshank Botanic Gardens in Aberdeen, Scotland, were built on land bequested by Miss Anne Cruickshank to commemorate her brother Dr. Alexander Cruickshank...
which was presented to the university in 1899.
Marischal College
See also: Marischal CollegeMarischal College
Marischal College is a building and former university in the centre of the city of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland. The building is owned by the University of Aberdeen and used for ceremonial events...
Marischal College
Marischal College is a building and former university in the centre of the city of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland. The building is owned by the University of Aberdeen and used for ceremonial events...
is a stately neo-Gothic building, having been rebuilt in 1836-41, and greatly extended several years later. The additions to the buildings opened by King Edward VII
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
in 1906, form one of the most splendid examples of neo-Gothic architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
; the architect, Alexander Marshall Mackenzie
Alexander Marshall Mackenzie
Alexander Marshall Mackenzie was a Scottish architect responsible for prestigious projects including the Isle of Man Banking Company in Douglas, and Australia House and the Waldorf Hotel in London....
, a native of Aberdeen, having adapted his material, white granite, to the design of a noble building to noteworthy effect. 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. Formerly an open three-sided court, the college now forms a quadrangle.
The building is now mostly let to Aberdeen City Council
Aberdeen City Council
Aberdeen City Council represents the Aberdeen City council area of Scotland.The council area was created in 1996, under the Local Government etc. Act 1994...
, although the University controls the north wing of the building containing the Marischal Museum and Mitchell Hall, which is used for graduation and other academic ceremonies.
Foresterhill
The Foresterhill site contains the university's medical school, library and associated buildings in the West End of the city of Aberdeen. It became part of the university's holdings in 1938 following the move of the Medical School and forms part of a modern teaching hospital complex alongside the Aberdeen Royal InfirmaryAberdeen Royal Infirmary
Aberdeen Royal Infirmary or ARI is a teaching hospital on the Foresterhill site in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is run by NHS Grampian and has around 900 beds. ARI is a tertiary referral hospital serving a population of over 600,000 across the North of Scotland...
. The 41 hectare site is split between the university (owning around a third) and Grampian University Hospital NHS Trust
NHS Scotland
NHS Scotland is the publicly funded healthcare system of Scotland. Although they are separate bodies the organisational separation between NHS Scotland and the other three healthcare organisations each commonly called the National Health Service in the United Kingdom tends to be hidden from its...
.
Hilton
The Hilton site became part of the university estate following its merger with the Aberdeen Campus of the Northern College in December 2001 and temporarily hosted the university's Faculty of Education. It lies less than a mile southwest of King's College campus. All teaching has now been transferred to the King's College Campus.Students
As of 2009/10 the university has around 14,000 students, 3900 being postgraduates, representing 120 different countries with about 46% men, 54% women, and 19% mature undergraduates. The university has more than 590 different first degree programmes and more than 110 postgraduate taught programmes.Student representation
The student body is represented within the University by a Students' Association known as Aberdeen University Students' AssociationAberdeen University Students' Association
Aberdeen University Students' Association is the students' association of the University of Aberdeen, an ancient university in the city of Aberdeen in north east Scotland...
(AUSA). Additionally, the elected Rector of the University of Aberdeen
Rector of the University of Aberdeen
The Lord Rector of the University of Aberdeen is the students' representative and chairman in the University Court of the University of Aberdeen. The position is rarely known by its full title and most often referred to simply as "Rector". The Rector is elected by students of the University and...
serves along with the Rector's Assessor and AUSA President as a students' representatives on the University Court.
Following financial problems in the early 2000s, AUSA ceased to provide a traditional Students' Union for its members. The organisation has been involved in the creation of "The Hub", a university-owned student dining and social centre created out of the former Central Refectory in King's College campus, which opened in 2006.
During term time, AUSA publishes a fortnightly student newspaper called the Gaudie
Gaudy
Gaudy or gaudie is a term used to reflect student life in a number of the ancient universities in the United Kingdom...
and hosts a radio station, Aberdeen Student Radio.
Organisations
A number of linked organisations cater to the students of the university. There are over a hundred clubs and societies formally affiliated with the students' association.The oldest student organisation at the university is the Aberdeen University Debater, the university's debating union, constituted in 1848. The first successful university newspaper, Alma Mater, began under the auspices of the Debater in 1883. In 1884, the Debater also took the first steps towards the introduction of a Students' Representative Council
Students' Representative Council
A Students' Representative Council represents student interests in the government of a university, school or other educational institution. Generally the SRC forms part of a broader Students' Association which may include other functions such as societies, entertainments and sports Universities...
under support from Alexander Bain
Alexander Bain
Alexander Bain was a Scottish philosopher and educationalist in the British school of empiricism who was a prominent and innovative figure in the fields of psychology, linguistics, logic, moral philosophy and education reform...
the then Rector.
The creation of the Union in 1895 provided a new debating chamber in Marischal College and the first permanent home of the society. The chamber beneath Mitchell Hall in Marischal College is the oldest purpose-built debating chamber in Scotland. For a time immediately after the turn of the century both the Union and the society were organising debates, which ultimately led to a merger in 1913 before being revived as separate institutions in 1920.
The students' association is responsible for sport at the university, which is managed by the Aberdeen University Sports Union
Aberdeen University Sports Union
Aberdeen University Sports Union is an elected body responsible for the running of all organised student sport at the University of Aberdeen. It is a constituent part of Aberdeen University Students' Association. It is not responsible for facilities and rents time for its clubs from Aberdeen...
, an AUSA committee.
The Aberdeen Future Fund is run by the Development Trust, a registered charity of Scotland, which seeks positive relationships and generosity of Aberdeen Alumni, in order to contribute to the high quality student experiences. Since founding in 1998, Aberdeen Future Fund has raised over £2.5 Million of unrestricted funds, thanks in large part to alumni. The individuals who speak to alumni to create and develop these relationships are students of the University of Aberdeen, so alumni can relate to younger generations through the University. Projects supported in the 2010/2011 year included The New Library, Sports clubs and societies, student scholarships, and medical research. Past projects have included a book fund for the Heavy Demand section, providing Safe Campus leaflets, the Hardship fund, providing funds for training mannequins for Clinical Skills, the organ for King's College Chapel, and funding for intra-mural sports.
University accommodation
Halls of residence are managed by the University. Two large concentrations of University accommodation are provided on the campus in Old Aberdeen, consisting of Crombie-Johnston Halls (both individual but sister halls) and King's Halls of Residence, and a short distance away the Hillhead Halls Of Residence site, where there is a social centre with porters, catering, sports and computer facilities, in addition to on-site launderettes, a bar and a shop.Following their first year, the majority of students opt to live in private accommodation off of the main university campus, although in recent years, prices and availability of accommodation has seen more second and third year students returning to university halls. This has forced the university to write to all students in university accommodation, in February 2008 and 2009, to let them know that accommodation will be reserved for first year students only in the academic year to follow.
The University has advertised a First-Year Accommodation Guarantee in recent years, but due to the high demand for homes in the rapidly growing city it has become increasingly difficult to fulfill the guarantee. At the start of the 2007-2008 term, the university ran out of rooms, and had to resort to temporary accommodation (including putting students into hotel rooms, and making kitchens, study rooms and common rooms into dorm rooms).
On 15 January 2011, officers from Grampian Police were called to an incident at Hillhead Halls in which a man was sectioned under the Mental Health Act
Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003
The Mental Health Act 2003, which came into effect on 5 October 2005, enables medical professionals to detain and treat people against their will on grounds of mental disorder, with the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland and the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland providing safeguards against...
. A Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
Bomb Disposal Unit
Bomb disposal
Bomb disposal is the process by which hazardous explosive devices are rendered safe. Bomb disposal is an all encompassing term to describe the separate, but interrelated functions in the following fields:*Military:...
was later called in with students being evacuated from Esslemont House as a precaution.
Sports
The students' association is responsible for sport at the university, which is managed by the Aberdeen University Sports UnionAberdeen University Sports Union
Aberdeen University Sports Union is an elected body responsible for the running of all organised student sport at the University of Aberdeen. It is a constituent part of Aberdeen University Students' Association. It is not responsible for facilities and rents time for its clubs from Aberdeen...
, an AUSA committee.
There are sports facilities at the back of King's College. Adjacent to the King's College playing fields is the
Aberdeen Sports Village, a partnership between the University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen City Council
Aberdeen City Council
Aberdeen City Council represents the Aberdeen City council area of Scotland.The council area was created in 1996, under the Local Government etc. Act 1994...
and sportscotland
Sportscotland
Sportscotland , formerly the Scottish Sports Council, is the national agency for sport in Scotland. Their stated aim is to help everyone in Scotland enjoy sport's many benefits....
. The venue includes a nine-court indoor hall, full-sized synthetic football pitch, fitness suite, squash courts and a sports performance lab among other facilities. The £28 million development on the site of the former Chris Anderson Stadium, opened on 24 August 2009. A 50m swimming pool is to be constructed in the site by end of 2014.
Notable alumni
- See also: :Category:Alumni of the University of Aberdeen
Many distinguished and renowned figures have studied at the University of Aberdeen. Most recently it has produced several leading figures in the UK Government, including the former Chancellor of the Exchequer
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...
, Alistair Darling
Alistair Darling
Alistair Maclean Darling is a Scottish Labour Party politician who has been a Member of Parliament since 1987, currently for Edinburgh South West. He served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2007 to 2010...
and the former Paymaster General, Tessa Jowell
Tessa Jowell
Tessa Jowell is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Dulwich and West Norwood since 1992. Formerly a member of both the Blair and Brown Cabinets, she is currently the Shadow Minister for the Olympics and Shadow Minister for London.-Early life:Tessa Jane...
. Additionally, famous businessmen such as Stephen Carter
Stephen Carter
Stephen Carter may refer to:*Stephen L. Carter , American law professor and writer*Stephen Carter, Baron Carter of Barnes , UK Government Communications, Technology and Broadcasting minister...
and Will Whitehorn
Will Whitehorn
Will Whitehorn was, until recently, the President of Virgin Galactic, a company which plans to offer space tourism flights to the paying public.-Biography:Whitehorn was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe...
matriculated at UoA. Radio and television personalities such as Nicky Campbell
Nicky Campbell
Nicholas Andrew Argyll "Nicky" Campbell is a Scottish radio and television presenter and journalist. He is known for his time presenting on programmes such as the consumer affairs programme Watchdog...
, James Naughtie
James Naughtie
James Naughtie is a British radio presenter and radio news presenter for the BBC. Since 1994 he has been one of the main presenters of Radio 4's Today programme.- Biography :...
, Sandy Gall
Sandy Gall
Henderson Alexander Gall, CMG, CBE , known as Sandy Gall, is a Scottish journalist, author, and former ITN news presenter. His career as a journalist spans over 50 years.-Education:...
and Derek Rae
Derek Rae
Derek Rae is a Scottish football announcer for ESPN, working as a sports commentator for its coverage of the UEFA Champions League and Scottish Premier League. He is also the host of ESPNsoccernet's PressPass.- Career :...
were also students here.
The University is well known in philosophical and theological circles. Thomas Reid
Thomas Reid
The Reverend Thomas Reid FRSE , was a religiously trained Scottish philosopher, and a contemporary of David Hume, was the founder of the Scottish School of Common Sense, and played an integral role in the Scottish Enlightenment...
, the founder of the Scottish School of Common Sense, and an important figure in the Scottish Enlightenment
Scottish Enlightenment
The Scottish Enlightenment was the period in 18th century Scotland characterised by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments. By 1750, Scots were among the most literate citizens of Europe, with an estimated 75% level of literacy...
, earned his degree from Marischal College
Marischal College
Marischal College is a building and former university in the centre of the city of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland. The building is owned by the University of Aberdeen and used for ceremonial events...
. Robert Adamson and theologian William Robinson Clark
William Robinson Clark
William Robinson Clark FRSC was a Scottish-Canadian theologian. He was born in Daviot, Aberdeenshire, son of James Clark. Originally educated for the Congregationalist ministry at New College London, he later conformed to the Church of England. After graduating from King's College, Aberdeen MA...
also went here. Other academics who started here include Andrew Ross, Colin Campbell and James Legge
James Legge
James Legge was a noted Scottish sinologist, a Scottish Congregationalist, representative of the London Missionary Society in Malacca and Hong Kong , and first professor of Chinese at Oxford University...
. Prizes awarded to alumni include the Lumsden and Sachs Fellowship
Lumsden and Sachs Fellowship
The Lumsden and Sachs Fellowship is a prize awarded by Christ's College, Aberdeen to the overall, most distinguished graduate of the year having studied in the Department of Divinity and Religious Studies of the University of Aberdeen....
.
Alumni of the medical faculty include Patrick Manson
Patrick Manson
Sir Patrick Manson was a Scottish physician who made important discoveries in parasitology and was the founder of the tropical medicine field....
, who made important discoveries in parasitology
Parasitology
Parasitology is the study of parasites, their hosts, and the relationship between them. As a biological discipline, the scope of parasitology is not determined by the organism or environment in question, but by their way of life...
, founder of the tropical medicine
Tropical medicine
Tropical medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with health problems that occur uniquely, are more widespread, or prove more difficult to control in tropical and subtropical regions....
field and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Manson also found Dairy Farm
Dairy Farm International Holdings
Dairy Farm International Holdings Limited is a retail company in Asia, with a legal base in Bermuda. A member of the Jardine Matheson Group, it is a leading pan-Asian retailer which processes food, wholesales food and personal hygiene products in the Pacific region and in China. Jardine Strategic,...
in 1886, now a leading pan-Asian retailer and a listed company on the London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
. The Kai Tak Airport
Kai Tak Airport
Kai Tak Airport was the international airport of Hong Kong from 1925 until 1998. It was officially known as the Hong Kong International Airport from 1954 to 6 July 1998, when it was closed and replaced by the new Hong Kong International Airport at Chek Lap Kok, 30 km to the west...
was namesaked after Kai Ho
Kai Ho
Sir Kai Ho Kai, CMG, JP, MRCS , , born Ho Shan-kai , was a Hong Kong Chinese barrister, physician and essayist in Colonial Hong Kong. He played a key role in the relationship between the Hong Kong Chinese community and the British colonial government. He is mostly remembered as one of the main...
, who along with Patrick Manson and Graeme Cantlie established the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese
Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese
The Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese was the first college in Hong Kong to fully adopt and accept Western medical science practices...
in 1887, which later became University of Hong Kong in 1911.
Ali Smith
Ali Smith
Ali Smith is a British writer.She was born to working-class parents, raised in a council house in Inverness and now lives in Cambridge. She studied at the University of Aberdeen and then at Newnham College, Cambridge, for a PhD that was never finished. She worked as a lecturer at University of...
, the author of the Booker Prize nominated novel Hotel World
Hotel World
Hotel World is a postmodern novel with influences from modernist novel written by Ali Smith portraying the stages of grief in relation to the passage of time. It won both the Scottish Arts Council Book Award and the Encore Award ....
and the Whitbread Award winning novel The Accidental
The Accidental
The Accidental is a 2005 novel by Scottish author Ali Smith. It follows a middle-class English family who are visited by an uninvited guest, Amber, while they are on holiday in a small village in Norfolk. Amber's arrival has a profound impact on all the family members. Eventually she is cast out...
, took her undergraduate degree here. Contemporary playwright Simon Farquhar
Simon Farquhar
Simon Farquhar is a Scottish playwright.During his time at the University of Aberdeen he was an active writer and performer in the university's drama group, Centre Stage. His early one-act plays were staged at the Aberdeen Arts Centre, until a radio script set in Cullen, Candy Floss Kisses, was...
; science fiction writer Adam Roberts
Adam Roberts
Adam Roberts is an academic, critic and novelist. He also writes parodies under the pseudonyms of A.R.R.R. Roberts, A3R Roberts and Don Brine....
, Thomas Urquhart
Thomas Urquhart
Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty was a Scottish writer and translator, most famous for his translation of Rabelais.-Life:...
and Archibald Forbes
Archibald Forbes
Archibald Forbes was a British war correspondent, the son of a Presbyterian minister in Morayshire, Scotland; educated at the University of Aberdeen. Entering the Royal Dragoons as a private, he gained, while in the service, considerable practical experience of military life and affairs...
are also alumni known in literary circles.
Those known in architectural circles include William Thornton
William Thornton
Dr. William Thornton was a British-American physician, inventor, painter and architect who designed the United States Capitol, an authentic polymath...
, the designer of the United States Capitol
United States Capitol
The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...
and Charles Mitchell who worked with John Dobson
John Dobson
John Dobson may refer to:* John Dobson , British architect* John Dobson , popularizer of astronomy* John Dobson , Canadian senator* John Dobson , Northern Irish politician...
and commissioned the elegant art nouveau church of St George's Jesmond from Thomas Ralph Spence.
Other figures include botanists C. H. Gimingham
C. H. Gimingham
Charles Henry Gimingham OBE FRSE FIBiol, born 28 April 1923, is a British applied botanist, Patron of the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management, past President of the British Ecological Society, and a world authority on heathlands and heathers....
and M. R. Henderson
M R Henderson
Murray Ross Henderson was a Scottish botanist who did most of his botanical work in the Straits Settlements and South Africa. He took a position as a botanist in Malaya in 1921 and became curator of the herbarium in the Singapore Botanical Gardens in 1924.On the invasion of British Malaya by Japan...
; plant pathologist Lawrence Ogilvie
Lawrence Ogilvie
Lawrence Ogilvie was a Scottish plant pathologist.Ogilvie was a UK expert on the diseases of commercially-grown vegetables and wheat from the 1930s to the 1960s....
; ornithologist
Ornithology
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and the aesthetic appeal of birds...
J. D. Macdonald
James David Macdonald (ornithologist)
James David Macdonald was a Scottish-Australian ornithologist and ornithological writer. A traditional museum ornithologist, he did much to build up the collections of African and Australian birds held by the British Museum, as well as popularising ornithology through his writings.-Education and...
; actor Iain Glen
Iain Glen
Iain Glen is a Scottish film and stage actor.Iain Glen was born in Edinburgh, Scotland and trained at RADA where he won the Bancroft Gold Medal. He was married to Susannah Harker from 1993 to 2004; they have one son, Finlay...
; mountaineer Tom Patey
Tom Patey
Tom Patey was a Scottish climber, mountaineer and writer. Although he was a leading Scottish climber of his day, particularly excelling on winter routes, he his probably best known for his humorous songs and prose about climbing, many of which were published posthumously in the collection One...
; Colonial Secretary
Chief Secretary
The Chief Secretary is the title of a senior civil servant in members of the Commonwealth of Nations, and, historically, in the British Empire. Prior to the dissolution of the colonies, the Chief Secretary was the second most important official in a colony of the British Empire after the...
of Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
Frederick Stewart
Frederick Stewart
Frederick or Fred Stewart may refer to:*Frederick Stewart , Australian businessman, politician and government minister*Frederick Stewart , Colonial Secretary in Hong Kong...
; former leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats
Scottish Liberal Democrats
The Scottish Liberal Democrats are one of the three state parties within the federal Liberal Democrats; the others being the Welsh Liberal Democrats and the Liberal Democrats in England...
, Nicol Stephen
Nicol Stephen
Nicol Ross Stephen, Baron Stephen of Lower Deeside in the City of Aberdeen is a Scottish Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of the Scottish Parliament for Aberdeen South, and was leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats from 2005 to 2008...
; Taliban kidnap victim Linda Norgrove; and James Blair, the founder of the College of William and Mary
College of William and Mary
The College of William & Mary in Virginia is a public research university located in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States...
in Williamsburg
Williamsburg
Williamsburg may refer to:*Williamsburg, former name of Kernville , California*Williamsburg, Colorado*Williamsburg, Florida*Williamsburg, Dunwoody, Georgia*Williamsburg, Indiana*Williamsburg, Iowa*Williamsburg, Kansas*Williamsburg, Kentucky...
, Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
, USA; also William Gregg, Spy
SPY
SPY is a three-letter acronym that may refer to:* SPY , ticker symbol for Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts* SPY , a satirical monthly, trademarked all-caps* SPY , airport code for San Pédro, Côte d'Ivoire...
, studied Divinity
Divinity
Divinity and divine are broadly applied but loosely defined terms, used variously within different faiths and belief systems — and even by different individuals within a given faith — to refer to some transcendent or transcendental power or deity, or its attributes or manifestations in...
at King's College
King's College, Aberdeen
King's College in Old Aberdeen, Scotland is a formerly independent university founded in 1495 and an integral part of the University of Aberdeen...
, executed by Hanging
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
1708.
- Prof. Richard Dawkins, David Attenborough, Dennis Law and J.K. Rowling are some of the high profile names to be awarded an honorary degree from the university.
Nobel Prize winners
- See also: :Category:Academics of the University of Aberdeen
- George Paget ThomsonGeorge Paget ThomsonSir George Paget Thomson, FRS was an English physicist and Nobel laureate in physics recognised for his discovery with Clinton Davisson of the wave properties of the electron by electron diffraction.-Biography:...
Professor of Natural Philosophy (Physics) at Aberdeen from 1922–1930, together with the American physicist C J Davisson "for their (independent) experimental discovery of the diffraction of electrons by crystals". (1937) - John James Rickard Macleod Jointly with Frederick Banting, for the research which led to the development of insulin as a treatment for diabetes. (1923)
- John Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-OrrJohn Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-OrrJohn Boyd Orr, 1st Baron Boyd-Orr CH, DSO, MC, FRS , known as Sir John Boyd Orr from 1935 to 1949, was a Scottish teacher, doctor, biologist and politician who received the Nobel Peace Prize for his scientific research into nutrition and his work as the first Director-General of the United Nations...
Director of the Rowett Institute and Professor of Agriculture from 1942 to 1945, in recognition of his contribution to the worldwide fight against hunger. (1949) - Frederick SoddyFrederick SoddyFrederick Soddy was an English radiochemist who explained, with Ernest Rutherford, that radioactivity is due to the transmutation of elements, now known to involve nuclear reactions. He also proved the existence of isotopes of certain radioactive elements...
, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Aberdeen from 1914–1919, for his work on radioactivity and isotopes (1921) - Richard Laurence Millington Synge A biochemist with the Rowett Institute from 1948 to 1967, for the invention of partition chromatography - a technique used in the separation mixtures of similar chemicals that revolutionised analytical chemistry (1952)