University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh (English The University of Edinburgh, Latin Universitas Academica Edinburgensis) is a research and teaching institute in Edinburgh.

Founded in 1582, it is one of the four ancient Scottish universities, along with the University of St Andrews (1413), the University of Glasgow (1451) and the University of Aberdeen (1495). There are only two universities in the English-speaking world older than the four Scottish ancient universities: the University of Oxford (1167) and the University of Cambridge (1209). The University is considered one of the most prestigious universities in the United Kingdom due to its history, academic excellence, international reputation and size.

The university is also one of the top 20 universities in the world and is therefore regarded as an elite university in both the academic and media worlds. As such, it belongs to the Russell Group of major UK universities that are leaders in research. It is also the only Scottish university to be a member of the Coimbra Group and LERU (League of European Research Universities), the two associations of leading European universities.

The University has extensive financial resources, particularly for research, with an income of around £900 million and an endowment of around £400 million (the third highest in the UK). At around £272 million, the University has the sixth highest research income of any UK university. In 2003, the University became the first Scottish university to be awarded the Fair Trade label.

The University is associated with 23 Nobel Prize winners, most recently Fraser Stoddart, and has produced three UK Prime Ministers and numerous international heads of state and government. Alumni of the University also include historical and scientific greats such as naturalist Charles Darwin, inventor Alexander Graham Bell, philosopher David Hume, physicist James Clerk Maxwell, mathematician Thomas Bayes and surgeon Joseph Lister. The famous authors Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, J.M. Barrie and Walter Scott were also educated here. Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Queen Elizabeth II, was the Chancellor (Honorary Rector) of Edinburgh University from 1953 to 2010. Since 2010, this position has been held by his daughter Anne, Princess Royal.

Locations

With the expansion of the departments, the university has now spread its campus over seven main locations:

• George Square and the surrounding streets in the southern centre of the city form the main campus and are also the oldest site of the university; here are located the humanities and social sciences, as well as the faculties of economics, medicine and law, and the main location of the university library. The George Square premises are also used for the first year of undergraduate education in science and engineering. Nearby are the main Edinburgh University Students' Association (EUSA) buildings: the Potterow Centre, Teviot Row House and the Pleasance Societies Centre.
• The Kings Buildings further south largely house the science schools and the biology department, which is a world leader in the field of genetics. Scotland's Rural College (SRUC) also has a site here.
• The Easter Bush Campus, about 10 km outside the city centre, is the site of the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies and the Roslin Institute.
• The Faculty of Divinity is located in New College on the Mound, parts of which are also used by the Church of Scotland.
• Moray House, just off the Royal Mile, housed the Moray House Institute for Education until it was acquired by the university in 1998. The latter has since extended Moray House and merged it with the Institute of Sport. The Moray House campus is linked to the George Square campus by ownership of the intervening land.
• The £40 million medical school at the New Royal Infimary in Little France in the south-east of the city was opened in 2002 by the Duke of Edinburgh as a joint project between private financiers, local authorities and the university; it is a modern hospital, veterinary clinic and research institute all in one.
• Pollock Halls, adjacent to Holyrood Park to the east, contains half board accommodation for students, predominantly those in their first year of study. Two of the older buildings in Pollock Halls were demolished in 2002 and new buildings erected in their place, bringing the total number of houses here to ten. Students who are not housed in Pollock Halls or the other university-owned halls of residence mostly live in private accommodation in the Marchmont, Newington, Bruntsfield, New Town and Leith areas of the city. Also on the grounds of Pollock Halls is the £9 million redeveloped McIntyre Conference Centre, the University of Edinburgh's largest and most important conference centre.

Edinburgh College of Art


Faculty of Earth Sciences


Graduation ceremonies in front of McEwan Hall


Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, Easter Bush Campus

Ranking

Overview

The university is one of the world's, Europe's and national leading universities. It is one of the Sutton Trust 13, the English equivalent of the US Ivy League universities, which, however, is not based on sports but on research strength and university rankings. In addition, the University of Edinburgh belongs to the group of so-called Ancient Universities, the group of the seven oldest English-speaking universities in the world.

Institution	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013
Global
THE	-	27=	27	24	36	39	32
QS World University Rankings	18	23=	19	21	17=	17=	21
Shanghai Ranking	-	-	32	41	47	45	51
Europe
THE	-	7	7	7	9	10	6
QS World University Rankings	6	7	7	8	7	6	6
Shanghai Ranking	-	-	7	9	11	10	12
UK
THE	-	6	6	6	6	7	5
QS World University Rankings	5	5	5	6	6	5	5
Shanghai Ranking	-	-	5	6	6	6	6

Worldwide rankings

The latest QS Top Universities ranking sees the University of Edinburgh ranked 18th in the world in 2019. The Guardian The World's Top 100 Universities ranking saw the University of Edinburgh ranked 22nd in the world in 2010 (ranked 20th the previous year). The Academic Ranking of World Universities sees the University of Edinburgh ranked 32nd in the world (2017). This means the University consistently performs better than some US Ivy League universities (e.g. Brown University, ranked 101-105 & Dartmouth College, ranked 201-300). The University of Edinburgh also compares favourably with UK Red Brick universities in the ARWU rankings (University of Birmingham, rank 101-105; University of Liverpool, rank 101-150; University of Leeds, rank 101-150; University of Sheffield, rank 101-105; University of Bristol, rank 61; University of Manchester, rank 38). King's College London is also slightly behind the University of Edinburgh at 46th place. In 2016, it was ranked 24th overall in the world in the university rankings of the English daily newspaper The Times; it was ranked 23rd in the world by THES in 2008 and 20th in the world in 2009. In 4icu's 2011 World University Web Rankings, the University of Edinburgh was ranked 17th globally, and 41st in 2018.

The University's Business School is included in all relevant business school rankings and is one of the world's leading institutions. The University of Edinburgh Business School (UEBS) is included in the 2010 Economist Top 100 Business School Rankings as well as in the Financial Times Rankings of Top Global MBAs, MSc Finance Programmes and MSc in Management Programmes. According to the Financial Times, the MSc in Management programme was ranked 57th in the world overall in the inaugural 2011 coverage, but is ranked 16th in the world in terms of starting salary, while the MSc in Finance & Investment was ranked 25th in the world in 2011. The business school was also ranked 26th for masters in finance and 44th for postgraduate management courses in the 2018 QS World University Rankings.

European Rankings

The Guardian The World's Top 100 Universities Ranking sees the University ranked 7th in Europe, while the QS World University Ranking places the University of Edinburgh 6th in Europe. In the Time Higher Education university rankings, it was ranked 7th overall in Europe in 2018; in the same rankings, it was ranked 6th in Europe in 2008 and 5th in Europe in 2009.

National Rankings

In the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2008, the University was ranked 5th after Oxford, Cambridge, Manchester and UCL in terms of research strength. The research strength of universities is the deciding factor in the allocation of funds. In terms of reputation, the University was ranked 6th nationally in 2011 and the University of Edinburgh was ranked 6th nationally in the QS rankings in 2019. The University Ranking by Academic Performance 2015 sees the University of Edinburgh ranked 6th nationally, after the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, Imperial College London, University College London and the University of Manchester.

Other national rankings are often considered unrepresentative. The criteria assessed are often criticised. This results in a discrepancy between international and national rankings. As an example, the Guardian's national ranking places the University of Edinburgh 7th overall among UK universities. In the Guardian's 2010 World Ranking, however, the University of Edinburgh is ranked 6th in the UK.

However, as one of 13 top universities nationally, the University of Edinburgh has an international reputation as a top university regardless of national rankings.

The University of Edinburgh is ranked 13th in Highfliers' Target School Rankings, and recruiting companies include Accenture, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Ernst & Young, J.P. Morgan, UBS, McKinsey & Company, Morgan Stanley, Newton Management, PricewaterhouseCoopers International and the Royal Bank of Scotland.