The University of Aberdeen is a university located in Aberdeen, Scotland. Founded in 1495, it is an ancient university and Scotland's third-oldest (after the University of St. Andrews and the University of Glasgow). It is the fifth-oldest in the English-speaking world. Its current form is the result of a merger in 1860 between two founding colleges: King's College (founded in 1495 in Old Aberdeen and which referred to itself as the University of Aberdeen) and Marischal College (founded in 1593 in what is now Aberdeen city centre). Today, the University of Aberdeen is a research-focused university and is consistently ranked among the top 150 universities in the world. It is one of two universities in Aberdeen today (the other is The Robert Gordon University).
The University plays a significant role in the life of the city, with its iconic buildings acting as symbols of the City of Aberdeen (e.g. Marischal College and the Crown of Kings at King's College). There are two main campuses; most activity takes place at the Kings College campus in Old Aberdeen (consisting primarily of 20th-century buildings clustered around the ancient original), while the medical school and related activities take place at the Foresterhill campus next to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
The University has approximately 13,500 students from undergraduate to doctoral level, including a large body of international students. In 2012, the university offered over 650 undergraduate degree programmes. There are also large numbers of Masters and PhD students. In addition, the university's Centre for Lifelong Learning acts as an extension college, offering higher education courses to the local community even for those without the usual qualifications for admission to degree-level study. A full range of disciplines are offered, including the liberal arts, sciences, social sciences, psychology, mathematics, engineering, law, medicine, education, computing science, music and divinity, theology and religious studies.
Academics and graduates of the University include many distinguished figures, including: physicist James Clerk Maxwell; Thomas Reid, the founder of the Scottish School of Common Sense and an important figure in the Scottish Enlightenment; philosopher Robert Adamson; Regius Chair in Logic, Lord Rector, educationalist and philosopher Alexander Bain; and theologian William Robinson Clark. Furthermore, a total of five Nobel Prize winners are associated with the University.
Read more about University Of Aberdeen: History, Symbols of The University and Corporate Identity, Locations, University Rankings, Academic Structure, Students and Student Life, Governance, Notable Alumni
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