University of Stirling - History and Campus Development

History and Campus Development

The main campus is situated around 2 miles (3.2 km) from the centre of Stirling, but is much closer to the town of Bridge of Allan. It was formerly the estate of the Robert Adam-designed Airthrey Castle, which the University has retained and incorporated into the campus as teaching facilities and offices. It is regularly described as one of the most beautiful campuses in the world, and nestles at the foot of Abbey Craig and the Ochil Hills in 300 acres (1.2 km2) of grounds centred around the 18th century man-made Airthrey Loch. In 2002, the University of Stirling and the landscape of the Airthrey Estate was designated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites as one of the top 20 heritage sites of the 20th century within the UK.

Stirling University is a Plate Glass University, along with Heriot-Watt University, the University of Dundee and the University of Strathclyde. This increased the number of universities in Scotland from four to eight. Stirling was however the only completely new institution of its kind established in Scotland since the University of Edinburgh was founded in 1582. The campus was selected from a shortlist of competing sites that also included Dumfries, Inverness, Ayr, Falkirk, Perth and Cumbernauld. The report's author, Lord Robbins, was later appointed the University's first Chancellor in 1968.

The campus was originally designed by the Scottish architectural practice Robert Matthew Johnson Marshall in a low-rise, highly functional, modern style, envisaged in order to integrate with the contours of the surrounding landscape. When the University first received its Royal Charter on 13 November 1967, there were 164 undergraduate and 31 postgraduate students. By 2007 the university had produced around 45,000 graduates. The University of Stirling however has a relatively small student population, ranking 87th in the UK. 92.2% of undergraduates currently enter from state schools or further education.

The principal administrative and teaching facilities were originally housed in the Pathfoot Building, which was completed in 1968 and subsequently saw several extensions over the years, including a Tropical Aquarium in 1979 and a Virology unit in 1987. In 1993 the Pathfoot Building was selected by the international conservation organisation DoCoMoMo as one of sixty key Scottish monuments of the post-war era. It was also voted as one of Prospect's 100 best modern Scottish buildings. A house for the University Principal was also completed in 1967. Designed by the architects Morris and Steedman, it was listed at category A in 2009. Pathfoot was later complemented by the Cottrell Building, which began development in 1970 and houses numerous lecture theatres, departmental offices, classrooms and computer labs. The Cottrell Building was further enhanced with the completion of the Courtroom extension in 1998 and in 2008/09 the entire building underwent a façade recladding project.

The University Library and Andrew Miller Building were completed in 1971. The Library holds over 500,000 volumes, over 9,000 journals and reopened in August 2010 after a major refurbishment programme. The Andrew Miller Building incorporates an Atrium, which has several retail and food outlets, including a bookstore, bank and general store. The Atrium also acts as the principal hub for most day-to-day campus activities, due to its central location, linking together the Library and Robbins' Centre Students Union, as well as connecting bridges to both the Cottrell Building and on-campus student residences. The University's first Principal, Professor Tom Cottrell, believed that art should be part of the everyday cultural experience at the University, and his inspiration led to the establishment of the MacRobert Arts Centre, which is a small theatre and cinema complex, located adjacent to the Andrew Miller Building. The Centre is open both to members of the University community and to the general public. Stirling has also developed a considerable fine art collection since 1967, comprising over 300 works including; paintings, tapestries and sculpture.

A visit by Queen Elizabeth II to the site in 1972 caused considerable controversy; student protests against the Queen's visit were vociferous and, in some cases, fuelled by alcohol, and the disturbances were widely condemned in the press and the local community, where students were refused access to buses and other facilities for a time.

As the University has continued to expand since its inception, further development has taken place including; the world renowned Institute of Aquaculture opened by Princess Diana in 1982, the R.G. Bomont Building, which was completed in 1998, and houses the School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health, the Iris Murdoch building, opened in 2002 for The Dementia Services Development Centre, and the Colin Bell Building, completed in 2003 for the School of Applied Social Science.

In 2006, the University catered for nearly 9,000 students, around a third of whom live on-campus. There are several student Halls of Residence located on-campus, which include; Andrew Stewart Hall, A.K. Davidson Hall, Murray Hall, Geddes Court, Alexander Court and Muirhead House. There are also other halls of residence located off-campus, within Stirling city centre, including; Union Street and John Forty's Court. Students of over 80 nationalities are represented at the university, with 14 per cent of students coming from overseas.

The University has developed major industrial research links, with a large science park - Stirling University Innovation Park, located immediately adjacent to the main university campus. Innovation Park has grown since its initiation in 1993, and is now home to 40 companies engaging in various forms of research and development. The university also owns a highly successful International Conference Centre, Stirling Management Centre, which is located on campus, and is a purpose built conference and management training centre and the first Conference Centre of Excellence in Scotland. The University admits in its own published estates strategy that the sale of part of its campus to the Wang Laboratories computer manufacturer in the 1980s was a serious mistake. The sale was linked to the adoption by the University of Wang's computing system which was incompatible with other systems and eventually replaced. The site went through various owners and is now a food processing facility.

The university chose not to defend a claim at an employment tribunal in 2009 in which it conceded it had unfairly dismissed a researcher who had complained that a member of the psychology department, Dr David Donaldson, had removed her name from a grant application and submitted it under his own. The university had rejected the researcher's complaint in its internal process. It subsequently promoted Donaldson to a professorship. Donaldson issued a written apology to the researcher, and the university was required to pay her more than £10,000 in compensation.