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University of Aberdeen

NATIONAL
RANK

71%

FIRSTS
2:1s

82.5%

COMPLETION
RATE

Key Stats

n/a

TEACHING
QUALITY

84th=

STUDENT
EXPERIENCE

34th

RESEARCH
QUALITY

34th

GRADUATE
PROSPECTS

Contact details

ADDRESS

King's College, Aberdeen, AB24 3FX View on map >

Telephone

01224 272 090/1

sras@abdn.ac.uk

Website

www.abdn.ac.uk

Open days

September 1, 2015

University Profile

Academic assessors were highly complimentary about Aberdeen in the university’s latest quality audit, praising the ‘transformative’ effect of curriculum reforms, the quality of online learning resources, personal tutoring and employability initiatives. Established in 1495, Aberdeen is the fifth-oldest university in the UK. It has been enjoying record demand for places on its broad range of flexible degree programmes. Even on traditional degree courses, students can try out three or four subjects before committing themselves at the end of their first or even second year. The modular system is so flexible that the majority of students change their intended degree before graduation.

Female students now outnumber the men, but Aberdeen still considers itself a “balanced” university because roughly half of its students study medicine, science or engineering, half the arts or social sciences. The university is in the midst of a period of major capital spending. In all, the university invested £229m on capital projects in ten years up to 2009 and expects to spend another £148m by 2019. A new £22m Aquatic

Centre, with 50-metre pool, opened this year, completing the Aberdeen Sports Village, which has been built in partnership with the city council and Sportscotland. It is just one of a number of big capital projects in recent years. They include a futuristic library costing £57m that opened in 2011. Named after the Principal who commissioned it, the Sir Duncan Rice Library was chosen as one of the 12 best new buildings in Scotland, and collected an award from the Royal Institute of British Architects. Student services had already been transformed and the redeveloped Butchart Centre has given the Students’ Association a new social focus on campus. The students’ centre in The Hub brings together dining and retail outlets with support services, including the accommodation office and the careers service. The university’s ICT network has over 1,500 computers for student use. All new undergraduates are guaranteed housing – an important benefit in a city with the highest rents in Scotland. Aberdeen is also one of four Scottish universities collaborating in a new initiative to promote spin-out companies, which can only boost further the already excellent graduate employment prospects here. The adoption of ‘Sixth Century Courses’ (a reference to the university’s 500+ years of history) will do nothing to harm employment prospects either. These new courses studied as part of students’ individual degree programmes include cross-disciplinary courses such as the health and wealth of nations, mankind in the universe, science and the media, and the digital society. The aim is to give graduates broader knowledge and more intellectual flexibility. The university added 100 academic posts to deliver the new courses, as well as strengthening its research. Applications increased in 2013, but Aberdeen had to cut its intake of undergraduates by almost 40% to keep within Scottish government limits. There should be more places available in 2015. The university is offering a range of scholarships to international students, each worth a year’s free tuition, and undertaking not to raise fees in mid-course to ensure the cosmopolitan character of its campus. Aberdeen registered some good results in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, when more than half of the work submitted was judged to be world-leading or internationally excellent. Health services research and theology, divinity and religious studies produced the best results in the UK, while computer science and informatics, anthropology, English and history also did particularly well. Research income grew by more than a third over five years, cementing Aberdeen’s ambitions to be recognised among the top 100 universities in the world – it’s currently in the world top 150. The university established the English-speaking world’s first chair in medicine and has produced its share of advances since. The Institute of Medical Sciences, which has brought together all Aberdeen’s work in this area, boasts high quality laboratory facilities. Another £20m was invested in the Suttie Centre, a teaching and learning centre for medical education and clinical skills.

Education is now also considered among Aberdeen’s strengths, while biological sciences have developed considerably in recent years, becoming second only to the social sciences in terms of size. Biomedicine is particularly strong, and the university’s links with the oil industry show in geology’s high reputation. Today’s university is a fusion of two ancient institutions which came together in 1860. The original King’s College buildings are the focal point of an appealing campus, complete with cobbled main street and some sturdily handsome Georgian buildings, about a mile from the city centre. Medicine is at Foresterhill, a 20-minute walk away, adjoining the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. Buses link the two sites with the Hillhead residential complex.

Almost a third of all students come from the north of Scotland, but taking one in six from outside Britain. Students from England and the 120 nationalities from further afield are generally prepared for Aberdeen’s remote location and, although the winters are long, the climate is warmer than the uninitiated might expect. Transport links are good. Students find the city lively and welcoming, but expensive: the JobLink service provides a good selection of part-time employment.

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Detailed Statistics

PERFORMANCE