Cambridge University, UK

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY (University of Cambridge)

University of Cambridge
From wikipedia,

Cambridge University Official Website

The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University), located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world and has a reputation as one of the world's most prestigious universities.

The University grew out of an association of scholars in the city of Cambridge that was formed, early records suggest, in 1209 by scholars leaving Oxford after a dispute with local townsfolk there.

The universities of Oxford and Cambridge are often jointly referred to as Oxbridge. In addition to cultural and practical associations as a historic part of English society, the two universities also have a long history of rivalry with each other.



Cantabrigian is the formal adjective meaning "of Cambridge University" which is also used as a term for the university's members (abbreviated as Cantab. in post-nominal letters for alumni)

History

Early history

Roger of Wendover wrote that Cambridge University could trace its origins to a crime committed in 1209. Although not always a reliable source, the detail given in his contemporaneous writings lends them credence. Two Oxford scholars were convicted of the murder or manslaughter of a woman and were hanged by the town authorities with the assent of

the King.

In protest at the hanging, the University of Oxford went into voluntary suspension, and scholars migrated to a number of other locations, including the pre-existing school at Cambridge (Cambridge had been recorded as a “school” rather than university when John Grim held the office of Master there in 1201). These post-graduate researchers from Oxford started Cambridge’s life as a university in 1209. Cambridge’s status as a university is further confirmed by a decree in 1233 from Pope Gregory IX which awarded the ius non trahi extra (a form of legal protection) to the chancellor and universitas of scholars at Cambridge.

After Cambridge was described as a studium generale in a letter by Pope Nicholas IV in 1290, and confirmed as such in a bull by Pope John XXII in 1318, it became common for researchers from other European medieval universities to come and visit Cambridge to study or to give lecture courses.

Foundation of the Colleges

Cambridge’s colleges were originally an incidental feature of the system. No college is as old as the university itself. The colleges were endowed fellowships of scholars. There were also institutions without endowments, called hostels. The hostels were gradually absorbed by the colleges over the centuries, but they have left some indicators of their time, such as the name of Garrett Hostel Lane.

Hugh Balsham, Bishop of Ely, founded Peterhouse in 1284, Cambridge’s first college. Many colleges were founded during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but colleges continued to be established throughout the centuries to modern times, although there was a gap of 204 years between the founding of Sidney Sussex in 1596 and Downing in 1800. The most recent college established is Robinson, built in the late 1970s.

In medieval times, colleges were founded so that their students would pray for the souls of the founders. For that reason they were often associated with chapels or abbeys. A change in the colleges’ focus occurred in 1536 with the dissolution of the monasteries. King Henry VIII ordered the university to disband its Faculty of Canon Law and to stop teaching “scholastic philosophy”. In response, colleges changed their curricula away from canon law and towards the classics, the Bible, and mathematics.

Academics

A 'School' in the University of Cambridge is a broad administrative grouping of related subjects, each covering a specified group of Faculties. Each has an elected supervisory body - The Council of the School - comprising representatives of the constituent Faculties and Departments in each School.

There are six Schools:

Arts and Humanities
Biological Sciences, including Veterinary Medicine
Clinical Medicine
Humanities and Social Sciences
Physical Sciences
Technology

Teaching and research in Cambridge is organised by Faculties. The Faculties have different organisational sub-structures which partly reflect their history and partly their operational needs, which may include a number of Departments and other institutions. In addition, a small number of bodies entitled Syndicates have responsibilities for teaching and research, exercising powers similar in effect to those of Faculty Boards. Examples are Cambridge Assessment, the University Press, and the University Library.

Nobel Prizes

The University of Cambridge has more Nobel Prize winners than any other institution.

• 82 affiliates of the University of Cambridge have won the Nobel Prize since 1904.
• Affiliates have won in every category, with 29 Nobel prizes in Physics, 23 in Medicine, 19 in Chemistry, seven in Economics, two in Literature and two in Peace.
• Trinity College has 31 Nobel Prize winners, the most of any college at Cambridge.
• Dorothy Hodgkin is the first (and only) woman from Cambridge to win a Nobel Prize, for her work on the structure of compounds used in fighting anaemia.
• In 1950, Bertrand Russell became the first person from Cambridge to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, for his 1946 work, 'A History of Western Philosophy'.
• Frederick Sanger, from St John's and fellow of King's, is one of only four individuals to win a Nobel Prize twice. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1958 and 1980.
• In 1991, Harvard University created its own spoof of the Nobel Prize, called the 'Ig Nobel Prize'. Ten prizes are awarded each year for 'for achievements that make people laugh, and then make them think'. The University of Cambridge has had no winners.

Cambridge University ranked 2nd (tied with Oxford University) in the 2007 
THES-QS World University Ranking

Cambridge University ranked 3rd in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking

Cambridge University ranked 2nd in the 2009 THES-QS World University Ranking

Cambridge University ranked 1st in the 2010 QS World University Ranking

Cambridge University, UK

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY (University of Cambridge)

University of Cambridge
From wikipedia,

Cambridge University Official Website

The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University), located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world and has a reputation as one of the world's most prestigious universities.

The University grew out of an association of scholars in the city of Cambridge that was formed, early records suggest, in 1209 by scholars leaving Oxford after a dispute with local townsfolk there.

The universities of Oxford and Cambridge are often jointly referred to as Oxbridge. In addition to cultural and practical associations as a historic part of English society, the two universities also have a long history of rivalry with each other.



Cantabrigian is the formal adjective meaning "of Cambridge University" which is also used as a term for the university's members (abbreviated as Cantab. in post-nominal letters for alumni)

History

Early history

Roger of Wendover wrote that Cambridge University could trace its origins to a crime committed in 1209. Although not always a reliable source, the detail given in his contemporaneous writings lends them credence. Two Oxford scholars were convicted of the murder or manslaughter of a woman and were hanged by the town authorities with the assent of

the King.

In protest at the hanging, the University of Oxford went into voluntary suspension, and scholars migrated to a number of other locations, including the pre-existing school at Cambridge (Cambridge had been recorded as a “school” rather than university when John Grim held the office of Master there in 1201). These post-graduate researchers from Oxford started Cambridge’s life as a university in 1209. Cambridge’s status as a university is further confirmed by a decree in 1233 from Pope Gregory IX which awarded the ius non trahi extra (a form of legal protection) to the chancellor and universitas of scholars at Cambridge.

After Cambridge was described as a studium generale in a letter by Pope Nicholas IV in 1290, and confirmed as such in a bull by Pope John XXII in 1318, it became common for researchers from other European medieval universities to come and visit Cambridge to study or to give lecture courses.

Foundation of the Colleges

Cambridge’s colleges were originally an incidental feature of the system. No college is as old as the university itself. The colleges were endowed fellowships of scholars. There were also institutions without endowments, called hostels. The hostels were gradually absorbed by the colleges over the centuries, but they have left some indicators of their time, such as the name of Garrett Hostel Lane.

Hugh Balsham, Bishop of Ely, founded Peterhouse in 1284, Cambridge’s first college. Many colleges were founded during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but colleges continued to be established throughout the centuries to modern times, although there was a gap of 204 years between the founding of Sidney Sussex in 1596 and Downing in 1800. The most recent college established is Robinson, built in the late 1970s.

In medieval times, colleges were founded so that their students would pray for the souls of the founders. For that reason they were often associated with chapels or abbeys. A change in the colleges’ focus occurred in 1536 with the dissolution of the monasteries. King Henry VIII ordered the university to disband its Faculty of Canon Law and to stop teaching “scholastic philosophy”. In response, colleges changed their curricula away from canon law and towards the classics, the Bible, and mathematics.

Academics

A 'School' in the University of Cambridge is a broad administrative grouping of related subjects, each covering a specified group of Faculties. Each has an elected supervisory body - The Council of the School - comprising representatives of the constituent Faculties and Departments in each School.

There are six Schools:

Arts and Humanities
Biological Sciences, including Veterinary Medicine
Clinical Medicine
Humanities and Social Sciences
Physical Sciences
Technology

Teaching and research in Cambridge is organised by Faculties. The Faculties have different organisational sub-structures which partly reflect their history and partly their operational needs, which may include a number of Departments and other institutions. In addition, a small number of bodies entitled Syndicates have responsibilities for teaching and research, exercising powers similar in effect to those of Faculty Boards. Examples are Cambridge Assessment, the University Press, and the University Library.

Nobel Prizes

The University of Cambridge has more Nobel Prize winners than any other institution.

• 82 affiliates of the University of Cambridge have won the Nobel Prize since 1904.
• Affiliates have won in every category, with 29 Nobel prizes in Physics, 23 in Medicine, 19 in Chemistry, seven in Economics, two in Literature and two in Peace.
• Trinity College has 31 Nobel Prize winners, the most of any college at Cambridge.
• Dorothy Hodgkin is the first (and only) woman from Cambridge to win a Nobel Prize, for her work on the structure of compounds used in fighting anaemia.
• In 1950, Bertrand Russell became the first person from Cambridge to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, for his 1946 work, 'A History of Western Philosophy'.
• Frederick Sanger, from St John's and fellow of King's, is one of only four individuals to win a Nobel Prize twice. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1958 and 1980.
• In 1991, Harvard University created its own spoof of the Nobel Prize, called the 'Ig Nobel Prize'. Ten prizes are awarded each year for 'for achievements that make people laugh, and then make them think'. The University of Cambridge has had no winners.

Cambridge University ranked 2nd (tied with Oxford University) in the 2007 
THES-QS World University Ranking

Cambridge University ranked 3rd in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking

Cambridge University ranked 2nd in the 2009 THES-QS World University Ranking

Cambridge University ranked 1st in the 2010 QS World University Ranking

Bristol University, UK

University of Bristol

The University of Bristol is a university in Bristol, England. It received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876. It is one of the original "red brick" universities.

Bristol ranks as one of the top 10 universities in the United Kingdom according to most published league tables. The University has an annual turnover of £260m and is the largest independent employer in Bristol.

The University is a member of the Russell Group,European-wide Coimbra Group and the Worldwide Universities Network, of which the University's Vice-Chancellor Prof Eric Thomas is the current Chair. The most recent Research Assessment Exercise gave 15 departments a 5* rating.Bristol has around 23,000 students and is one of two universities in Bristol, the other being the more recently established University of the West of England. The University has gained press attention for its high private school intake and the 2003 dispute over its admissions system.

History

The University was preceded by University College, Bristol, founded in 1876, where its first lecture was attended by only 99 students. The University was able to apply for a Royal Charter due to the financial support of the Wills and Fry families, who made their fortunes in tobacco plantations and chocolate, respectively. Although the Wills Family made vast sums of money from the slave-produced plantations, they later became abolitionists who gave their money to the city of Bristol. The Royal Charter was gained in May 1909, with 288 undergraduates and 400 other students entering the University in October 1909. Henry Overton Wills III became its first chancellor. The University College was the first such institution in the country to admit women on the same basis as men. However, women were forbidden to take examinations in medicine until 1906.

Wills Memorial Building

Since the founding of the University itself in 1909, it has grown considerably and is now one of the largest employers in the local area, although it is smaller by student numbers than the nearby University of the West of England. Bristol does not have a campus but is spread over a considerable geographic area. Most of its activities, however, are concentrated in the area of the city centre, referred to as the "University Precinct". It is a member of the Russell Group of research-led UK universities, the Coimbra Group of leading European universities and the Worldwide Universities Network WU League tables generally place Bristol within the top ten universities in the United Kingdom.

Royal Fort Tower

Bristol is also known for its research strength, having 15 departments gaining the top grade of 5* in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise. Overall, 36 out of 46 departments rated gained the top two ratings of 5 or 5*, and 76% of all the academic staff working in departments scored these top two levels. In terms of teaching strength, Bristol had an average Teaching Quality Assessment score of 22.05/24 before the TQA was abolished. For admission in October 2005, Bristol reported an average of 10.8 applications per place with the average A-level score on admission being 436.4.That year, Bristol's drop-out rate was 2.2% compared to the benchmark set by HEFCE of no more than 3.1%.

Academics

Faculty of Arts
Archaeology and Anthropology
Drama: Theatre, Film, Television
History of Art
Music
Philosophy
Classics & Ancient History
English
Historical Studies
Theology and Religious Studies
French
German
Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies
Italian
Russian

Faculty of Engineering
Aerospace Engineering
Civil Engineering
Computer Science
Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Engineering Mathematics
Mechanical Engineering

Faculty of Medical and Veterinary Sciences
Anatomy
Biochemistry
Cellular & Molecular Medicine
Clinical Veterinary Science
Physiology and Pharmacology

Faculty of Science
Biological Sciences
Chemistry
Earth Sciences
Experimental Psychology
Geographical Sciences
Mathematics
Physics

Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry
Clinical Science at North Bristol
Clinical Science at South Bristol
Community-Based Medicine
Oral & Dental Science
Social Medicine

Faculty of Social Sciences and Law
Audiology
Politics
Social Work
Sociology
Education (Graduate School of)
Geographical Sciences
Policy Studies
Deaf Studies
Hearing and Balance Studies
Exercise, Nutrition and Health Sciences
Accounting and Finance
Economics
Management
Law

Bristol University ranked 37th in the 2007 Thes-QS World University Ranking

Bristol University ranked 32nd in the 2008 Thes-QS World University Ranking

Bristol University ranked 34th in the 2009 Thes-QS World University Ranking

Bristol University ranked 27th in the 2010 QS World University Ranking

Birmingham University

The University of Birmingham is an English university in the city of Birmingham.

Founded in 1900 as a successor to Mason Science College, and with origins dating back to the 1825 Birmingham Medical School, it was the first of the so-called Red Brick universities to receive its Royal Charter.

The university is a member of the Russell Group of research universities and a founding member of Universitas 21. It currently has over 18,000 undergraduate and over 11,000 postgraduate students.

It is currently ranked as one of the top five British research institutions, and is ranked 11th overall in the UK, as well as 30th in Europe. It is one of three Universities in Birmingham; the other two being Aston University and Birmingham City University.

The university's main campus, in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham, is arranged around the 100-metre-high (328 feet) Chamberlain clock tower (nicknamed "Old Joe") commemorating Joseph Chamberlain, the university's first Chancellor. The Great Hall of the university is in the domed Aston Webb Building, which is named after one of its architects (the other was Ingress Bell).

The university's Selly Oak campus is a short distance to the south of the main campus. It was the home of a federation of nine higher education colleges, mainly focused on theology and education, which were integrated into the university for teaching purposes in 1999. Among these was Westhill College (later the University of Birmingham, Westhill) which merged with the university's School of Education in 2001. The UK daytime television show Doctors is filmed on this campus. The university also has buildings at several other sites in the city.

The university's main campus occupies a site some 3 miles (4.8 km) south-west of Birmingham city centre. The original 25 acre site was given to the university in 1900 by Lord Calthorpe. The original buildings on the Edgbaston site were built at the turn of the 20th century.

The original semi-circle of red-brick domed buildings form Chancellor's Court, at the centre of which stands the clock tower and which sit on a 30 ft (9.1 m) drop so the original architects placed their buildings on two tiers with a 16 ft (4.9 m) drop between them. The Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower, affectionately known as "Old Joe", is dedicated to the university's first chancellor Joseph Chamberlain.

The design of the clock tower draws its inspiration from the that of the Torre del Mangia, the medieval clock tower forming part of the Town Hall in Siena, Italy and is made from Accrington Red Brick. When it was built it was described as "the intellectual beacon of the Midlands" by the Birmingham Post. The clock tower was Birmingham's tallest building at 100 metres from the date of its construction in 1908 until 1969 and is still the third highest in the city. It is one of the top 50 tallest buildings (and the tallest clock tower) in the UK.

The clocktower has four clock faces are each 17 ft 3 in (5.25 m) in diameter. The minute hands are 13 ft 6 in (4.1 m) long. At its widest part, the hour hand is 2 ft (61 cm) across. The hands are made out of sheet copper and the frame is made of one solid casting, weighing half a ton (450 kg). The pendulum is 15 ft (4.6 m) long. The largest of the four hour bells weighs 13,619 lbs (6,177 kg).The whole weight of the clock and bells exceeds 20 tons (18,150 kg). There is a long held superstition that if an undergraduate walks under the tower while it is chiming, they will fail their degree.

The grand buildings were an outcome of the £50,000 given by steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie to establish a "first class modern scientific college" on the model of Cornell University in the United States. The University of Sydney in Australia was also modelled on Cornell. Funding was also provided by Sir Charles Holcroft.

Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College

The earliest beginnings of the university can be traced back to the Birmingham Medical School which began life through the work of William Sands Cox in his aim of a medical school along strictly Christian lines, unlike the London medical schools. The medical school was founded in 1828 but Cox began teaching in December 1825. Queen Victoria granted her patronage to the Clinical Hospital in Birmingham and allowed it to be styled “The Queen’s Hospital”. It was the first provincial teaching hospital in England. In 1843 the medical college became known as Queen’s College. [25]

On February 23, 1875, Sir Josiah Mason, the Birmingham industrialist and philanthropist, who made his fortune in making key rings, pens, pen nibs and electroplating, founded Mason Science College. It was this institution that would eventually form the nucleus of the University of Birmingham.

In 1882, the Departments of Chemistry, Botany and Physiology were transferred to Mason Science College, soon followed by the Departments of Physics and Comparative Anatomy. The transfer of the Medical School to Mason Science College gave considerable impetus to the growing importance of that college and in 1896 a move to incorporate it as a university college was made. As the result of the Mason University College Act 1897 it became incorporated as Mason University College on January 1, 1898, with the Right Honourable Joseph Chamberlain MP becoming the President of its Court of Governors.

Royal Charter

It was largely due to Chamberlain's tireless enthusiasm that the university was granted a Royal Charter by Queen Victoria on March 24, 1900. The Calthorpe family offered twenty-five acres (10 hectares) of land on the Bournbrook side of their estate in July. The Court of Governors received the Birmingham University Act 1900, which put the Royal Charter into effect, on May 31. Birmingham was therefore arguably the first so-called red brick university, although several other universities claim this title, including the University of Manchester, since Manchester Victoria made significant developments towards the formation of a civic university proper in 1851, despite not gaining official status until 1903.

The transfer of Mason University College to the new University of Birmingham, with Chamberlain as its first Chancellor and Sir Oliver Lodge as the first Principal, was complete. All that remained of Josiah Mason's legacy was his Mermaid in the sinister chief of the university shield and of his college, the double-headed lion in the dexter.

It became the first civic and campus university in England. The University Charter of 1900 also included provision for a Faculty of Commerce, as was appropriate for a university itself founded by industrialists and based in a city with enormous business wealth. Consequently, the faculty, the first of its kind in Britain, was founded by Sir William Ashley in 1901, who from 1902 until 1923 served as first Professor of Commerce and Dean of the Faculty. From 1905 to 1908, Edward Elgar held the position of Professor of Music at the university.

Academic departments

Being a large university Birmingham has departments covering a wide range of subjects, which are arranged into eight subject areas, which are Arts, Languages, Literature and History; Business; Education; Engineering (comprising Departments of Mechanical, Chemical, Civil, Electronic, Electrical and Computer Engineering and Metallurgy & Materials); Law; Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences; Science; and Social Sciences, Government and Politics.

On August 1, 2008, the university will be restructured and will be composed of five 'colleges':
Dentistry, Health Sciences and Medicine
Life and Environmental Sciences (Biosciences, Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Psychology, Sport and Exercise Sciences)
Engineering and Physical Sciences (Physical Sciences includes Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Astronomy)
Arts and Law (Historical Studies, Humanities, Law)
Social Sciences (Business, Education, Public Policy, Economics)

Charles Lapworth

The university is home to a number of well-known research centres and schools, including the Birmingham Business School, the oldest business school in England, the University of Birmingham Medical School, which produces more medical doctors than any other university in Britain, the Institute of Local Government Studies, the Centre of West African Studies, the European Research Institute and the Shakespeare Institute. Between 1964 and 2002, the University of Birmingham was also home to the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, a leading research centre whose members' work came to be known as the Birmingham School of Cultural Studies. Despite being established by one of the key figures in the founding of Cultural Studies, Richard Hoggart, and being later directed by the renowned theorist Stuart Hall, the department was controversially closed down.

Reputation

The University ranked 26th out of 113 higher education institutions in The Times 2008 Good University Guide, and came 18th in The Guardian's 2008 rankings. It is ranked fifth nationally for Research Excellence.

Birmingham is rated equal 92nd best university in the world in the Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (IHE-SJTU) Academic Ranking of World Universities 2007. In October 2007, the University was also ranked equal 65th best in the world by The Times Higher Education Supplement.

Due to Birmingham's role as a centre of light engineering, the university traditionally had a special focus on science, engineering and commerce, as well as coal mining. It now teaches a full range of academic subjects and has five-star rating for teaching and research in several departments; additionally, it is widely regarded as making a prominent contribution to cancer studies.

The university is particularly known for its research, with two thirds of its departments ranked nationally or internationally outstanding in the last Research Assessment Exercise in 2001. Languages, mathematics, biological sciences, physiotherapy, sociology and electrical and electronic engineering all recorded maximum points.The Department of Political Science and International Studies (POLSIS) is ranked 4th in the UK and 22nd in the world in the Hix rankings of political science departments

The University of Birmingham ranked 65th in The 2007 THES-QS World University Ranking 

The University of Birmingham ranked 75th in The 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking
The University of Birmingham ranked 66th in The 2009 THES-QS World University Ranking
The University of Birmingham ranked 59th in The 2010 QS World University Ranking

Aberdeen University, Scotland, UK

University of Aberdeen

The University of Aberdeen is Scotland's third oldest and the fifth oldest in the UK. Aberdeen is an international university built on serving one of the most dynamic regions of Europe. With over 13,000 students, and over 3000 staff, we are at the forefront of teaching and research in medicine, the humanities and sciences.

Picturesque and historic Old Aberdeen - home of Elphinstone's original foundation - is now the main university site, only one mile from the city centre. The 15th century remains very much alive in King's College, offering a sense of history in the daily life of a university now focused on the needs of the new millennium.
History

Founded in 1495 by William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen and Chancellor of Scotland, The University of Aberdeen is Scotland's third oldest and the UK's fifth oldest University.

William Elphinstone established King's College to train doctors, teachers and clergy for the communities of northern Scotland, and lawyers and administrators to serve the Scottish Crown. Much of the King's College still remains today, as do the proud traditions, which the Bishop began.

The university opened with 36 staff and students and, in 1497, boasted the first chair of medicine in the English-speaking world. But the college also looked outward to the wider world of Europe and beyond, taking the great European universities of Paris and Bologna as its model, Elphinstone's college embraced all the known branches of learning Arts, Theology, and Canon and Civil Law.

In 1593, a second, Post- Reformation University, was founded in the heart of the New Town of Aberdeen by George Keith, fourth Earl Marischal, and until King's College and Marischal College were united to form the modern University of Aberdeen in 1860, Aberdeen had two universities. At first, Arts and Divinity were taught at King's and Law and Medicine at Marischal; a separate Science Faculty - also at Marischal - was only established in 1892. The university opened all Faculties to women in 1892, and in 1894 the first 20 matriculated female students began their studies. Four women graduated in arts in 1898; by the following year, women made up a quarter of the faculty.

Throughout the 20 th century, particularly since the 1950s, Aberdeen consistently increased student recruitment, which is now in excess of 10,000. In the last 10 years, picturesque and historic Old Aberdeen, home of Bishop Elphinstone's original foundation, has again become the main university site.

The University has also invested heavily in medical research, where time and again University staff have demonstrated their skills as world leaders in their field. The custom-built Institute of Medical Sciences, completed in 2002, was designed to provide state-of-the-art facilities for medical researchers and their students.

In 1999, the University launched its ambitious fund-raising campaign, The Sixth Century Campaign, to mark the start of the University's sixth century of existence. With the support of HRH The Prince of Wales as Campaign Patron, our aim is to raise £150 million by 2010.

The fact that the University has become what it is owes much to the determination and vision of a very few individuals, including a distinguished list of scholars who in their own unique ways, helped to shape the University into the world-class institute we have today.

This is only the briefest glimpse into the history of the University of Aberdeen. A far more detailed account can be found in the publication Crown and Gown, written by Jennifer Carter and Colin McLaren and published by Aberdeen University Press. This publication was the main source for this page and permission for use of the material is gratefully acknowledged. Crown and Gown can be purchased at most good book shops - price £6.95.

The University of Aberdeen was founded in 1495 and is the third oldest University in Scotland

Teaching is split into 3 Colleges, The College of Life Sciences & Medicine, The College of Physical Sciences, and The College of Arts and Social Sciences

Over 13,900 students

46% men, 54% women

19% mature undergraduates

120 nationalities

4 Nobel Prizes have been awarded for work carried out or begun at Aberdeen

High quality teaching with over 89% subjects rated Excellent / Highly Satisfactory

Within 6 months 97% of graduates enter directly into work, further study or training

85% of academic staff are research active

Over 590 first degree programmes

Over 110 taught Masters programmes

Over 150 sports clubs and societies

Study abroad options worldwide

Libraries with over 1,050,000 volumes
£240 million investment on infrastructure and facilities over the next ten yearsAcademics

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
School of Education Formerly the Aberdeen campus of the Northern College of Education which was amalgamated into the university in the later half of the 1990s.
School of Language & Literature
School of Law
School of Social Science
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
School of Psychology
and is supported by:
Graduate School
Institute of Applied Health Sciences
Institute of Medical Sciences
College of Physical Sciences
The College is divided into two main schools and a number of research centres:
School of Engineering and Physical Sciences:
Department of Chemistry
Department of Computing Science
Department of Engineering
Department of Mathematical Sciences
Department of Physics
School of Geosciences:
Department of Geography & Environment
Department of Geology & Petroleum Geology
Graduate Studies
College Research Centres:
Aberdeen Institute for Coastal Science and Management
Institute of Energy Technologies
Institute for Transport and Rural Research

University of Aberdeen ranked 137th in the 2007 THES-QS World University Ranking

University of Aberdeen ranked 153rd in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking

University of Aberdeen ranked 129th in the 2009 THES-QS World University Ranking

University of Aberdeen ranked 117th in the 2010 QS World University Ranking