University of Edinburgh

The Institution of Edinburgh is a Scottish public research university located in Edinburgh. It is one of Scotland's four ancient universities and the sixth-oldest university in continuous operation globally. It was granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 and officially inaugurated in 1583. Old College was becoming congested by the end of the nineteenth century. Following a bequest from Sir David Baxter, the institution began seriously planning new buildings. In 1877, Sir Robert Rowand Anderson won a public architectural competition and was hired to build new medical school facilities. In 1919, the university purchased West Mains Farm in the city's south end to establish a new science-focused satellite campus. Around 7,000 students enrolled annually by the end of the 1950s, more than doubling the numbers from the century.

The institution is a member of the Coimbra Group, League of European Research Universities, Russell Group, Una Europa, and Universitas 21, among other research-intensive university alliances. With the third-largest endowment in the UK, behind only Cambridge and Oxford, it had a total income of £1,175.6 million in the fiscal year ended July 31, 2021, of which £324.0 million came from research grants and contracts.

On August 1, 2016, it was renamed the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. With 26,130 students and 3,071 academic staff, it is the largest of the three colleges in terms of enrolment. Over 300 undergraduates, 200 taught postgraduate programs, and over 2,200 research postgraduate students are enrolled. In the 2022 Complete University Guide, twenty of the college's subjects were listed in the top ten nationally. It has the UK's oldest English Literature department, which was placed seventh in the world in the QS Rankings by Subject in English Language & Literature in 2021.

Graduation

Graduates are 'capped' with the Geneva bonnet at graduation rituals, which entails the university's principal smacking them on the head with the cap while they receive their diploma. The velvet-and-silk hat has been worn for more than 150 years, and tradition has it that it was created from fabric taken from the trousers of 16th-century scholars John Knox and George Buchanan.

Library

Edinburgh University Library was formed in 1580 by donating a substantial collection by Clement Litill, three years before the university, and is now Scotland's largest academic library collection. Sir Basil Spence designed the eight-story Main Library building in George Square. It was the largest building in the UK when it was completed in 1967, and it is now a category A listed structure.

Student Activism

At the university, there are several campaigning societies. People & Planet, an environmental and poverty-fighting organization, and Amnesty International Society are two of the largest. Edinburgh Global Partnerships, a student-led charity founded in 1990, is one example of an international development organization. Edinburgh University Anarchist Society, Edinburgh University Socialist Society, Edinburgh Young Greens, Feminist Society, Marxist Society, and Students for Justice in Palestine are many left-wing organizations on campus.

Media

"The Student" is a student newspaper published every two weeks. It is the oldest student newspaper in the United Kingdom, founded in 1887 by novelist Robert Louis Stevenson. Politicians Gordon Brown, Robin Cook, and David Steel are among the newspaper's former contributors. It has been autonomous of the university since 1992, but due to mounting debts, it was forced to close in 2002 temporarily. Following its rebirth, the publication received several student newspaper prizes.

The Journal was a student-run publication that began in 2007. Three former writers founded it for The Student. With a print run of 10,000 copies, it was Scotland's largest such periodical. Other higher education institutions in the city, such as Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh Napier University, and Telford College, were also given copies. The magazine dissolved in 2015 owing to financial issues, despite winning several prizes for its work.

FreshAir is a student-run alternative music radio station that first broadcast on October 3, 1992. It is one of the UK's oldest surviving student radio stations. The station was named "Student Radio Station of the Year" at the annual Student Radio Awards in 2004.

The Edinburgh University Student Television (EUTV) debuted in September 2015 as the university's newest addition to the student media scene, producing a regular magazine-style show, documentaries, and other special events.

Sports

At Edinburgh University, student athletic clubs range from the more traditional rugby, football, rowing, and judo to the more unusual korfball and gliding. Edinburgh Institution Sports Union managed about 65 sports clubs at the university in 2021. (EUSU). Sir Chris Hoy, a British cyclist, won three gold medals, and Katherine Grainger, a British rower, earned a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Edinburgh won the most gold medals of any UK university at the 2012 Summer Olympics, with two from Hoy and one from Grainger.