The first university in Scotland was St John's College, St Andrews, founded in 1418.[3]St Salvator's College was added to St. Andrews in 1450. The other great bishoprics followed, with the University of Glasgow being founded in 1451 and King's College, Aberdeen in 1495.[4]St Leonard's College was founded in Aberdeen in 1511 and St John's College was re-founded in 1538 as St Mary's College, St Andrews.[5] Public lectures that were established in Edinburgh in the 1540s would eventually become the University of Edinburgh in 1582.[6] A university briefly existed in Fraserburgh between 1592 and 1605.[7] In 1641, the two colleges at Aberdeen were united by decree of Charles I (r. 1625–49), to form the ‘King Charles University of Aberdeen’.[8] They were demerged after the Restoration in 1661.[8] In 1747 St Leonard's College in St Andrews was merged into St Salvator's College to form the United College of St Salvator and St Leonard.[9] A new college of St Andrews was opened in Dundee in 1883, though initially an independent institution.[10] The two colleges at Aberdeen were considered too small to be viable and they were restructured as the University of Aberdeen in 1860. Marischal College was rebuilt in the Gothic style from 1900.[11] The University of Edinburgh was taken out of the care of the city and established on a similar basis to the other ancient universities.[11]
After the Robbins Report of 1963 there was a rapid expansion in higher education in Scotland.[12][13] By the end of the decade the number of Scottish Universities had doubled.[14] New universities included the University of Dundee, Strathclyde, Heriot-Watt, and Stirling. From the 1970s the government preferred to expand higher education in the non-university sector and by the late 1980s roughly half of students in higher education were in colleges.[citation needed] In 1992, the distinction between universities and polytechnic colleges/Central institutions was removed.[15] This created new universities at Abertay, Glasgow Caledonian, Napier, Paisley and Robert Gordon.[16] in 2001 the University of the Highlands and Islands was created by a federation of 13 colleges and research institutions in the Highlands and Islands and gained full university status in 2011.[2]
Initium sapientiae timor domini The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord
Established as King's College, Aberdeen in 1495 by a papal bull of Pope Alexander VI, and in 1860 merged with Marischal College (established 1593 as Aberdeen's second university), explicitly maintaining the date of foundation of King's College.[21]
Nec temere, nec timide "Neither rashly nor timidly"
Established as the ‘Tounis College’ in 1582, after James VI of Scotland granted the Edinburgh Town Council a royal charter to establish a college on 14 April 1582.[22]
The Royal College of Science and Technology was granted university status by royal charter in 1964, although the precursor Anderson Institute can be traced back to 1796 and the name Anderson's University was used between 1828 and 1887.
Heriot-Watt College was granted university status by royal charter in 1966, although the precursor School of Arts of Edinburgh was established in 1821.
Magnificat Anima Mea Dominum My soul glorifies the Lord
First established (1881) as University College, then Queen's College under the University of St. Andrews, until establishment as an independent university in 1967.
Foghlam aig ìre Oilthigh air a' Ghàidhealtachd is anns na h-Eileanan University-level study in the Highlands and Islands
A federation of colleges, planned from 1992 onwards and first established in 2001 as the UHI Millennium Institute[23] and awarded full university status in February 2011. The central administration and largest college is in Inverness.[24]
^P. Daileader, "Local experiences of the Great Western Schism", in J. Rollo-Koster and T. M. Izbicki, eds, A Companion to the Great Western Schism (1378–1417) (BRILL, 2009), ISBN9004162771, p. 119.
^J. Durkan, "Universities: to 1720", in M. Lynch, ed., The Oxford Companion to Scottish History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), ISBN0-19-211696-7, pp. 610–12.
^J. E. A. Dawson, Scotland Re-Formed, 1488–1587 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007), ISBN0748614559, p. 187.
^A. Thomas, "The Renaissance", in T. M. Devine and J. Wormald, The Oxford Handbook of Modern Scottish History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), ISBN0-19-162433-0, pp. 196–7.
^ abD. Ditchburn, "Educating the Elite: Aberdeen and Its Universities”, in E. P. Dennison, D. Ditchburn and M. Lynch, eds, Aberdeen Before 1800: A New History (Dundurn, 2002), ISBN1862321140, p. 332.
^R. D. Anderson, "Universities: 2. 1720–1960", in M. Lynch, ed., The Oxford Companion to Scottish History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), ISBN0-19-211696-7, pp. 612–14.
^ abO. Checkland and S. G. Checkland, Industry and Ethos: Scotland, 1832–1914 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1989), ISBN0748601023, pp. 147–50.
^L. Paterson, "Universities: 3. post-Robbins", in M. Lynch, ed., The Oxford Companion to Scottish History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), ISBN0-19-211696-7, pp. 614–5.
^R. Shaw, "Institutional and curricular structures in the universities of Scotland" in T. G. K. Bryce and W. M. Humes, eds, Scottish Education: Post-Devolution (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2nd edn., 2003), ISBN0-7486-1625-X, pp. 664–5.
^"Universities (Scotland) Act 1858"(PDF). p. 1. Retrieved 27 August 2017. The University and King's College of Aberdeen, and Marischal College and University of Aberdeen shall be united and incorporated into one University and college, in all time coming, under the style and title of the "University of Aberdeen"; and the said united University shall take rank among the Universities of Scotland as from the date of erection of King's College and University, viz., the year one thousand four hundred and ninety-four; and all the funds, properties, and revenues now pertaining or belonging in any manner of way to the University and King's College, or to Marischal College and University, shall in time coming pertain and belong to the University of Aberdeen.
