Universities in Scotland

Universities In Scotland

There are fifteen higher education institutions in Scotland which have university status.

University status in the United Kingdom today is conferred by the Privy Council which takes advice from the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. In the Scottish Government, the minister with responsibility for higher education responsibilities is the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning; since October 2011, this is Michael Russell of the governing Scottish National Party.

All Scottish universities are public universities and are funded by the Scottish Government's Scottish Funding Council, a non-departmental public body, while support funding for students is provided by the Student Awards Agency for Scotland. Universities Scotland is the representative body which works to promote Scotland's universities, as well as six other higher education institutions. In 2008, over 240,000 students were enrolled at Scottish universities.

The oldest university in Scotland is the University of St Andrews, established in 1413, with the universities of Glasgow and Aberdeen also dating back to the 15th century. These "ancient universities" were established by Papal bulls, but in the 16th century the royal charter became the standard method of foundation. The first of these established the University of Edinburgh, which became Scotland's fourth university while England had only two. The number of universities doubled during the 1960s, with three existing colleges gaining university status; the University of Stirling was established as Scotland's only plate glass university. Several former central institutions (which were comparable to the polytechnics in other parts of the UK) also became universities following the reforms of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. The newest is the University of the Highlands and Islands, which attained university status in 2011. Besides the campus-based universities, the distance-learning Open University plays a role in the Scottish university sector, teaching 40% of Scotland's part-time undergraduates.

Scottish universities award academic degrees from undergraduate to doctoral levels; the higher education system in Scotland is similar to that of the rest of the UK but has slight differences. Undergraduate degrees may awarded "with honours" (four years of study) or without honours and referred to as "designated" or "general" degrees (three years of study). Undergraduate degrees in arts and social sciences are awarded as Master of Arts at the ancient universities (comparable to a Bachelors degree in other countries) or as Bachelor of Arts at newer institutions. Science degrees are awarded as Bachelor of Science, while Bachelors degrees are also available in other disciplines such as law (LLB), medicine (MBChB), education (BEd) and nursing (BN). Masters degrees are awarded in a wide range of disciplines following one (or occasionally two) years of study, such as Master of Science (MSc) for scientific and social science disciplines, Master of Letters (MLitt) for arts disciplines, and others such as Master of Business Administration (MBA). Doctoral degrees are awarded by research as Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), or by a taught programme in a professional discipline such as Doctor of Psychology (DClinPsych or DPsych) or Doctor of Education (EdD). Doctoral degrees require three (or occasionally four) years of study.