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The University of Edinburgh was founded in 1583 in a period of rapid
development in Edinburgh, Scotland.
It has more students than any other university in Scotland and is amongst the
largest in the United Kingdom. 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 the Coimbra Group and the LERU: two groups of leading European universities.
History
Its first building was Old College (later expanded), which is the School of Law, in central Edinburgh just south of the
Royal Mile. Edinburgh University's first forte in teaching was anatomy and the developing science of surgery,
from which it has expanded into many subjects and offers degree courses in more traditional subjects than you could think of
(although the Agricultural College has recently closed). The University also offers a number of subjects that are offered in only
relatively few other universities, including artificial
intelligence in which it is rivalled only by MIT (in the United States).
The University is one of the ancient
universities of Scotland, and boasts a student newspaper ("Student") founded by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1887. 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, which was founded in 1889 and comprises the Students' Union and Student Representative Council (SRC). There are union
buildings at Potterrow, Teviot House, The Pleasance, Kings Buildings and Holyrood Road.
Along with the expansion in topics of study the university has also expanded its campus such that it now has five main
sites:
- 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. It is also used for teaching first year
undergraduates in science and engineering.
- The Kings Buildings, further south, houses most of the Science schools including a Biology faculty that is a
world leader in genetics.
- Moray House just off the Royal Mile, used to be the Moray
House Institute for Education until that was acquired by the University around 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.
- The New Royal Infimary of Edinburgh in Little France, in the southeast of the city, was opened in 2000 as 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).
- Pollock Halls, adjoining Holyrood Park to the east,
provides accommodation (mainly half board) for students in their first year. It was mostly built in the mid-20th century and is thus filled with large blocklike towers. Most other students in
the city live in private flats in the Marchmont, Newington, Bruntsfield, Mayfield and Leith areas.
Alumni
The University has had many famous alumni, including:
- Gordon Brown, British Chancellor of the Exchequer
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes
Author
- Charles Darwin, naturalist
- Klaus Fuchs, physicist
- David Hume, philosopher
- David MacRitchie, archaeologist
- Stella Rimington, former head of MI5
- Peter Roget, author of the famous Thesaurus
- Sir Walter Scott, author and poet
- David Steel, leader of the British Liberal Party
- James Clerk Maxwell, physicist
- James Hector, geologist
Hume and Maxwell both applied for teaching posts at the university, which refused to employ either.
External Links
See also: Russell Group
of Universities
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