Everything about The Ancient Universities Of Scotland totally explained
The
ancient universities of Scotland are
medieval and renaissance
universities that have continued to exist.
The ancient universities of Scotland are, in order of formation:
These universities often find themselves governed in a quite different fashion to more recent additions and also hold a number of privileges. They also share several distinctive features and are governed by arrangements laid down by the
Universities (Scotland) Acts.
Following the creation of the ancient universities, no more universities were created until the 20th century.
St Andrews
Foundation
The
University of St Andrews owed its origin to a society formed in 1410 by
Laurence of Lindores, abbot of
Scone, Richard Cornwall, archdeacon of
Lothian, William Stephenson, afterwards
bishop of
Dunblane, and a few others. Bishop
Henry Wardlaw (died 1440) issued a charter in 1411 and attracted the most learned men in Scotland as professors. In 1413
Avignon Pope Benedict XIII issued six
bulls confirming the charter and constituting the society a
university.
Today
St Andrew's University has around 8,500 students and just over 800 academic staff. The independent IpsosMORI
National Student Survey 2006 commissioned by
HEFCE placed it third among the UK universities. Nearly eight in ten graduates obtain a First Class or an Upper Second Class Honours degree. Entry to the University is highly competitive; the latest UCAS figures show that there are generally twelve applications for every place available, and the University hasn't entered Clearing since 2003.
Glasgow
Foundation
The University of Glasgow was founded in 1451 by a
papal bull of
Pope Nicholas V, at the request of
King James II, giving Bishop
William Turnbull permission to add the university to the city's cathedral. Its founding came about as a result of King James II's wish that
Scotland have two Universities to equal
Oxford and
Cambridge of
England.
Today
Glasgow University now boasts of almost 24,000 students with the majority coming from the Greater Glasgow area. Both the University's teaching quality and income from annual research contracts are assessed to be among the top 10 in the United Kingdom. Most recently Glasgow has climbed the
The Independent newspaper's University guide of 2008 placing Glasgow towards the top of the rankings and No2 in Scotland behind the oldest university St Andrews. For every eight applicants only one is accepted and it's increasingly becoming more popular and therefore more difficult to obtain a place.
Aberdeen
Foundation
The first university in Aberdeen, St. Mary's College (which later came to be called
King's College), was founded in February 1495 by
William Elphinstone,
Bishop of Aberdeen, drafting a request on behalf of
King James IV to
Pope Alexander VI resulting in a
papal bull being issued.
In 1860 King's merged with the city's other university,
Marischal College, which itself had been founded in 1593.
Today
Aberdeen University has almost 14,000 students and over 700 staff. Among its graduates is the present
Chancellor of the Exchequer,
Alistair Darling.
Edinburgh
Foundation
The founding of the University is attributed to
Bishop Robert Reid of
St Magnus Cathedral,
Kirkwall,
Orkney, who left the funds on his death in 1558 that ultimately provided the University's endowment. The University was established by a
Royal Charter granted by
James VI in 1582.
Today
Edinburgh University has almost 24,000 students, many attracted by the University's good reputation. In 2006
Newsweek ranked the University of Edinburgh 6th in the UK, 11th in Europe and 47th in the world.
Anomalies
University of Aberdeen
The University itself was formed by a union, in 1860, of King's College (founded 1495) and Marischal College (founded 1593). While both institutions were universities and would be considered ancient, the
Act of Parliament uniting the two specified that the date of the foundation of the new united university would be taken to be that of the older King's College. The Papal Foundation Bull of 1495 established the “University of Aberdeen” by name, it didn't establish King's College, but it happened, for all of its history as a separate institution, that the University of Aberdeen comprised only one college, King's College and hence the two institutions became conflated.
It should be noted that
Aberdeen was highly unusual at the time for having two universities in one city. As late-20th century University of Aberdeen prospectuses wryly observed, this was the same number as existed in all of
England at the time.
University of Dundee
The
University of Dundee was established as an independent institution by
Royal Charter in 1967, but has a long history going back well into the 19th century. For most of its existence, Dundee formed a fully incorporated
college of the
University of St Andrews, known as University College Dundee and Queen's College at various periods.
Dundee shares all
organisational features in common with the other ancient universities of Scotland by virtue of its descent through St Andrews, such as awarding the undergraduate MA degree and electing a Rector. Upon attaining its independence, Dundee also gained a number of significant schools from its parent university, including law, dentistry and the main medical school.
As a result, the
University of Dundee is usually considered alongside the ancient universities, particularly those in a Scottish context.
Undergraduate Master of Arts degree
The ancient universities are distinctive in offering the
Magister Artium/Master of Arts (M.A.) as an undergraduate
academic degree. This is sometimes known as the
Scottish MA.
Universities (Scotland) Acts
Main article: Ancient university governance in Scotland
The Universities (Scotland) Acts created a distinctive system of governance for the ancient universities in Scotland, the process beginning with the 1858 Act and ending with the 1966 Act. Despite not being founded until the after the first in these series of Acts, the
University of Dundee shares all the features contained therein.
As a result of these Acts, each of these universities is
governed by a tripartite system of
General Council,
University Court, and
Academic Senate.
The
chief executive and
chief academic is the
University Principal who also holds the title of
Vice-Chancellor as an
honorific. The
Chancellor is a
titular non-resident head to each university and is elected for life by the respective General Council, although in actuality a good number of Chancellors resign before the end of their "term of office".
Each also has a
Students' Representative Council (SRC) as required by
statute, although at the University of Aberdeen this has recently been renamed, the
Students' Association Council (the Students' Association having been the parent body of the SRC).
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