University of Edinburgh

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University of Edinburgh

Image:Edinburgh university crest.gif
Latin name Universitas Academica Edinburgensis
Motto (none)
Established 1583
Chancellor HRH The Duke of Edinburgh
Vice-Chancellor Prof Timothy O'Shea
Lord Rector Sir Tam Dalyell
Location Edinburgh, Scotland,

United Kingdom

Students c. 23,000 total (5,500 postgraduate)
Teaching staff c. 3,900
Member of Russell Group, Coimbra Group, LERU, Universitas 21
Homepage www.ed.ac.uk

The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583, is a renowned centre for teaching and research in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is one of the ancient universities of Scotland and is amongst the largest and most prestigious in the United Kingdom.

Contents

History

The University was established by a Royal Charter granted by James VI in 1582. This was an unusual move at the time, as most universities were established through Papal bulls. What makes the University of Edinburgh even more unusual is the fact that its funding came the following year from the Town Council, making it in many ways the first civic university, known as the "Tounis College". It became the fourth Scottish university in a period when the much more populous and richer England had only two. By the 18th century Edinburgh was a leading centre of the European Enlightenment and became one of the continent's principal universities.
Image:University of Edinburgh, Old College.jpg

Before the building of Old College designed by Robert Adam, the University of Edinburgh did not enjoy a custom built campus and existed in a hotchpotch of buildings from its establishment until the early 19th Century. The university's first custom built building was the magnificent Old College, now the School of Law, situated on South Bridge. Its first forte in teaching was anatomy and the developing science of surgery, from which it expanded into many other subjects. From the basement of a nearby house ran the anatomy tunnel corridor. It went under what was then North College Street (now Chambers Street), and under the University buildings until it reached the University's anatomy lecture theatre, delivering bodies for dissection. It was from this tunnel that the body of William Burke was taken after he had been hanged.

Towards the end of the 19th century, Old College was becoming too cramped and so Robert Rowand Anderson was commissioned to design a new Medical School premise in 1875. The medical school was more or less built to his design and was completed by the addition of the awe inspiring McEwan Hall in the 1880s.

The building now known as New College was originally built as a Free Church college in the 1840s and has been the home of Divinity at the University since the 1920s.

In addition, the University is responsible for a number of historic and modern buildings across the City, including the oldest purpose-built concert hall in Scotland, and the second oldest in use in the British Isles, St Cecilia's Concert Hall; Teviot Row House, which is the oldest purpose built Student Union Building in the world; and the handsomely restored 17th-century Mylne's Court student residence which stands at the head of Edinburgh's Royal Mile.

Edinburgh's Library pre-dates its University by three years. Founded in 1580, its collection has grown to become the largest university library in Scotland with over 2 million periodicals, manuscripts, theses, microforms and printed works. These are housed in the main University Library building in George Square - one of the largest academic library buildings in Europe, designed by Basil Spence - and an extensive series of Faculty and Departmental Libraries. The two oldest Schools - Law and Divinity - are both well-esteemed in their respective subjects, with Law being based in Old College, and Divinity being based in New College, on the Mound, just in front of the temporary home of the Scottish Parliament. Students at the university are represented by the Edinburgh University Students' Association, EUSA, comprising Edinburgh University Union (EUU) which was founded in 1889 and the Student Representative Council (SRC), founded in 1884 by Robert Fitzroy Bell.

Edinburgh University also boasts a student newspaper (Student) founded by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1887.

In 2002 the University was re-organised from its 9 academic faculties into three 'Colleges'. While technically not a collegiate university, it now comprised of the Colleges of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS), Science & Engineering (SCE) and Medicine & Vet Medicine (MVM). Within these Colleges are 'Schools' - roughly equivalent to the departments they succeeded. (However, it is notable that individual Schools have a good degree of autonomy regarding their finances and internal organisation) This has brought a certain degree of uniformity (in terms of administration at least) across the University.

Along similar lines, all teaching is now done over two semesters (rather than 3 terms) - bringing the timetables of different Schools into line with one another, and coming in to line with many other large universities. (notably in the US, but to an increasing degree in the UK as well)

Present

The University of Edinburgh is a member of the Russell Group of large, research-led British universities. It is also the only Scottish university (and the only British university apart from Oxford and Cambridge) to be a member of both the Coimbra Group and the LERU: two associations of leading European universities. The latest university ranking of around 120 British institutions (published by the Times newspaper in 2005) ranks Edinburgh the fifth best university in Britain. In 2005, it has been named Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year. In a recent ranking compiled by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Edinburgh ranks tenth in Europe and 47th worldwide. The university is a member of Universitas 21, an international association of research-driven universities.

Edinburgh has the third largest financial endowment among UK universities at £160m, according to the Sutton Trust (2002). It is also the third largest endowment per student.

Location

Edinburgh is one of the greenest and most architecturally beautiful cities in Europe often referred to as the "Athens of the North". The University plays an integral role in the city, contributing to its vibrant atmosphere. However, as well as the architectural gems cited above, it has contributed several of the most ugly buildings in the city. These include the Appleton Tower and the University Library (at George Square) and the Darwin building (at the south Edinburgh King's Buildings site).

With the expansion in topics of study the university has expanded its campuses such that it now has seven main sites:

  • The Chancellor's Building was opened on 12th August 2002 by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and houses the new £40 million Medical School at the New Royal Infirmary in Little France. It was a joint project between private finance, the local authorities and the University to create a large modern hospital, veterinary clinic and research institute and thus the University is currently (2003) in the process of moving its Veterinary and Medical Faculties there (and quite possibly also the School of Nursing). It has two large lecture theatres and a medical library. It is connected to the new Edinburgh Royal Infirmary by a series of corridors.
  • George Square and surrounding streets in the southern central area of the city is the oldest region, occupied primarily by the schools of art, social science, medicine and law, as well as the main university library. It is also used for teaching first year undergraduates in science and engineering. Nearby are the main EUSA buildings of Potterrow, Teviot Row House (the oldest custom-built students union in the country) and the Pleasance Societies Centre. Old residents of George Square include Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
  • The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies at Summerhall, at the East end of The Meadows. This houses Veterinary Medicine.
  • The King's Buildings, further south, houses most of the Science and Engineering schools including a Biology School that is a world leader in genetics. The Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) and British Geological Survey (BGS) also have a presence on campus.
  • New College, on the Mound, which houses the School of Divinity parts of which are also used by the Church of Scotland.
  • Moray House School of Education just off the Royal Mile, used to be the Moray House Institute for Education until that was acquired by the University in 1998. The University has since extended it and agglomerated it with its own Sports Institute along with a large new building to house the expanding Institutes. The Moray House campus is being amalgamated with the George Square campus through simple ownership of much of the intervening land.
  • Pollock Halls, adjoining Holyrood Park to the east, provides accommodation (mainly half board) for the majority of students in their first year. Two of the older houses in Pollock Halls were demolished in 2002 and a new building has been built in their place, leaving a total of ten buildings. Most other students in the city live in private flats in the Marchmont, Newington, Bruntsfield, New Town and Leith areas, although some university-owned flats are also available there.

Alumni and faculty

The University has many famous alumni, including:

Politics

Sciences

Arts

Miscellaneous

Hume and Maxwell both applied for teaching posts at the university, which refused to employ either.

See also

External links


Coimbra Group
(of European research universities)		 Image:Coimbra Group.png
Aarhus | Barcelona | Bergen | Bologna | Bristol | Budapest | Cambridge | Coimbra | Dublin | Edinburgh | Galway | Geneva | Göttingen | Granada | Graz | Groningen | Heidelberg | Jena | Kraków | Leiden | Leuven | Louvain | Lyon | Montpellier | Oxford | Padua | Pavia | Poitiers | Prague | Salamanca | Siena | Tartu | Thessaloniki | Turku I | Turku II | Uppsala | Würzburg
League of European Research Universities

Cambridge | Edinburgh | Geneva | Heidelberg | Helsinki | Karolinska (Stockholm) | Leiden | Leuven | | Milan | Munich | Oxford | Strasbourg I (Louis Pasteur)


The Universitas 21 network of universities Image:Universitas 21 logo.png

Australia: University of Melbourne | University of New South Wales | University of Queensland | Canada: University of British Columbia | McGill University | China: Fudan University | Peking University | University of Hong Kong | New Zealand: University of Auckland | Singapore: National University of Singapore | South Korea: Korea University | Sweden: Lund University | United Kingdom: University of Birmingham | University of Edinburgh | University of Glasgow | University of Nottingham | USA: University of Virginia

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