Edinburgh University

The University of Edinburgh was founded in 1582 , the sixth university to be established in the British Isles, with an endowment from the will of Bishop Robert Reid of St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, Orkney who died in 1558.

The University was established by a Royal Charter granted by King James VI in 1582, becoming the fourth Scottish university when England had just two. The following year, it was funded by the Town Council (becoming known as as the "Tounis College") making it the first civic university. In the 18th century, Edinburgh was a leading centre of the European Enlightenment and the University became one of Europe's most prominent universities. The university's oldest building is the Old College, (now the School of Law) on South Bridge; Robert Adam's original design was implemented after the Napoleonic Wars by the architect William Henry Playfair. In 1875, Robert Rowand Anderson was commissioned to design a new Medical School, completed by the addition of the McEwan Hall in the 1880s.

The university is now amongst the largest in the UK.. It has the third largest financial endowment of UK universities at £216m and an annual turnover of more than £400m.

Academic reputation

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 (along with Oxford and Cambridge) one of the only British universities, to be a member both of the Coimbra Group and the LERU, two leading associations of European universities. The University is also a member of Universitas 21, an international association of research-led universities.

In 2007, the Times Higher Education Supplement ranked the University of Edinburgh as 23rd in the world, 5th in the UK, and 5th in Europe

The Academic Ranking of World Universities 2007 ranked the University 6th in the UK, 11th in Europe, and 53rd in the world

The Guardian University Guide 2008 ranked the University as 7th in the UK overall, and 1st for computer science and for physics and 2nd for medicine and for veterinary science

In 2006 Newsweek ranked the University 6th in the UK, 11th in Europe and 47th in the world.

Colleges and Schools

In 2002 the University was re-organised into three ‘Colleges’,

• the College of Humanities and Social Science
• the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine
• the College of Science and Engineering

Within these Colleges are 21 ‘Schools’, of roughly equal sizes.

Student organisations

Students at the university are represented by Edinburgh University Students' Association, which consists of the Students' Representative Council, founded in 1884 by Robert Fitzroy Bell, and the Edinburgh University Union, founded in 1889.

• Edinburgh Student Newspaper, a weekly newspaper produced by students, was founded in 1887 by Robert Louis Stevenson and is the oldest student newspaper in the UK. It won the title of Best Student Newspaper in Scotland, awarded by the (Glasgow) Herald Student Press Awards, in 2006 and 2007.