1.
University of Aberdeen
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The University of Aberdeen is a public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. The university as it is today was formed in 1860 by a merger between Kings College and Marischal College, a university founded in 1593 as a Protestant alternative to the former. Today, Aberdeen is consistently ranked among the top 200 universities in the world and is one of two universities in the city, the other being the Robert Gordon University. The universitys iconic buildings act as symbols of wider Aberdeen, particularly Marischal College in the city centre, there are two campuses, the predominantly utilised Kings College campus dominates the section of the city known as Old Aberdeen, which is approximately two miles north of the city centre. Although the original site of the foundation, most academic buildings were constructed in the 20th century during a period of significant expansion. The universitys Foresterhill campus is next to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary and houses the School of Medicine, Aberdeen has approximately 13,500 students from undergraduate to doctoral level, including many international students. An abundant range of disciplines are taught at the university, with 650 undergraduate degree offered in the 2012-13 academic year. Five Nobel laureates have since associated with Aberdeen. The first principal was Hector Boece, graduate and professor of the University of Paris, despite this founding date, teaching did not start for another ten years, and the University of Aberdeen celebrated 500 years of teaching and learning in 2005. Following the Scottish Reformation in 1560, Kings College was purged of its Roman Catholic staff, George Keith, the fifth Earl Marischal was a moderniser within the college and supportive of the reforming ideas of Peter Ramus. In April 1593 he founded a university in the city. It is also possible the founding of another college in nearby Fraserburgh by Sir Alexander Fraser, Aberdeen was highly unusual at this time for having two universities in one city, as 20th-century University prospectuses observed, Aberdeen had the same number as existed in England at the time. In addition, a university was set up to the north of Aberdeen in Fraserburgh from 1595. Initially, Marischal College offered the Principal of Kings College a role in selecting its academics, Marischal College, in the commercial heart of the city, was quite different in nature and outlook. For example, it was integrated into the life of the city. The two rival colleges often clashed, sometimes in court, but also in brawls between students on the streets of Aberdeen, as the institutions put aside their differences, a process of attempted mergers began in the 17th century. During this time, both colleges made notable contributions to the Scottish Enlightenment. Both colleges supported the Jacobite rebellion and following the defeat of the 1715 rising were largely purged by the authorities of their academics and officials
2.
Kingskerswell
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Kingskerswell is a village and civil parish within Teignbridge local government district in the south of Devon, England. The village grew up where an ancient track took the narrowest point across a valley and it is of ancient foundation. It has a church dating back to the 14th century and the ruins of a house of similar date. The coming of the railway in the 1840s had an effect on the village. The village is a part of the electoral ward called Kerswell-with-Combe. This ward had a population of 5,679 at the 2011 census and it was situated on a busy main road, part of the A380, between Torquay and Newton Abbot until the opening of the South Devon Highway in December 2015. There had been proposals to reroute this road to relieve the traffic bottleneck since 1951, there are several prehistoric sites on the high ground surrounding Kingskerswell, such as the Iron Age sites of Milber Down, Berrys Wood and Dainton. In 1992 during survey work for a bypass, evidence of a Roman settlement was found at Aller Cross and it may have an early military origin, and if it does it would be of regional importance. The Aller Brook and its tributaries lie in a shallow, wide, a bridge, known as Dacca Bridge or Daccabridge, was constructed here and this is where the village developed, on the western bank. The first written record of Kingskerswell is in the Domesday Book where it is called Carsewelle, before the Norman Conquest it was held by Edward the Confessor as part of the royal demesne, afterwards it continued in royal ownership under William the Conqueror and his descendants. The first part of the name represents this royal ownership. After being granted to lords, but always escheating to the king due to the lack of any heirs. In 1268 his son, Roger de Molis, was granted the right to hold a market on Tuesdays. John Dinham eventually gained his inheritance in 1381 and he died in 1428 but the manor remained in his family until 1501. By 1710 the manor was owned by Sir Henry Langford who passed it to Thomas Brown, by 1159 there was a chaplain named William here, and in 1301 the chapel was visited by the Dean and Chapter of Exeter. The church, which is dedicated to St Mary, may have parts dating to the 14th century and it remained a chapel under the administration of the parish of St Marychurch until the 1530s when the present building was started. It was extended in the 15th century by converting the transepts into aisles and it was restored c.1856 by John West Hugall and again in 1875 by J. W. Rowell. The church is grade II* listed, and has an image of Saint Apollonia
3.
Aberdeen
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Nicknames include the Granite City, the Grey City and the Silver City with the Golden Sands. During the mid-18th to mid-20th centuries, Aberdeens buildings incorporated locally quarried grey granite, since the discovery of North Sea oil in the 1970s, other nicknames have been the Oil Capital of the World or the Energy Capital of the World. The area around Aberdeen has been settled since at least 8,000 years ago, the city has a long, sandy coastline and a marine climate, the latter resulting in chilly summers and mild winters. Aberdeen received Royal Burgh status from David I of Scotland, transforming the city economically, the traditional industries of fishing, paper-making, shipbuilding, and textiles have been overtaken by the oil industry and Aberdeens seaport. Aberdeen Heliport is one of the busiest commercial heliports in the world, in 2015, Mercer named Aberdeen the 57th most liveable city in the world, as well as the fourth most liveable city in Britain. In 2012, HSBC named Aberdeen as a business hub and one of eight super cities spearheading the UKs economy. The Aberdeen area has seen human settlement for at least 8,000 years. The city began as two separate burghs, Old Aberdeen at the mouth of the river Don, and New Aberdeen, a fishing and trading settlement, the earliest charter was granted by William the Lion in 1179 and confirmed the corporate rights granted by David I. In 1319, the Great Charter of Robert the Bruce transformed Aberdeen into a property-owning, granted with it was the nearby Forest of Stocket, whose income formed the basis for the citys Common Good Fund which still benefits Aberdonians. The city was burned by Edward III of England in 1336, but was rebuilt and extended, the city was strongly fortified to prevent attacks by neighbouring lords, but the gates were removed by 1770. During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms of 1644–1647 the city was plundered by both sides, in 1644, it was taken and ransacked by Royalist troops after the Battle of Aberdeen and two years later it was stormed by a Royalist force under the command of Marquis of Huntly. In 1647 an outbreak of plague killed a quarter of the population. In the 18th century, a new Town Hall was built and the first social services appeared with the Infirmary at Woolmanhill in 1742 and the Lunatic Asylum in 1779. The council began major road improvements at the end of the 18th century with the main thoroughfares of George Street, King Street, gas street lighting arrived in 1824 and an enhanced water supply appeared in 1830 when water was pumped from the Dee to a reservoir in Union Place. An underground sewer system replaced open sewers in 1865, the city was incorporated in 1891. Although Old Aberdeen has a history and still holds its ancient charter. It is an part of the city, as is Woodside. Old Aberdeen is the location of Aberdon, the first settlement of Aberdeen
4.
Alma mater
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Alma mater is an allegorical Latin phrase for a university or college. In modern usage, it is a school or university which an individual has attended, the phrase is variously translated as nourishing mother, nursing mother, or fostering mother, suggesting that a school provides intellectual nourishment to its students. Before its modern usage, Alma mater was a title in Latin for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele. The source of its current use is the motto, Alma Mater Studiorum, of the oldest university in continuous operation in the Western world and it is related to the term alumnus, denoting a university graduate, which literally means a nursling or one who is nourished. The phrase can also denote a song or hymn associated with a school, although alma was a common epithet for Ceres, Cybele, Venus, and other mother goddesses, it was not frequently used in conjunction with mater in classical Latin. Alma Redemptoris Mater is a well-known 11th century antiphon devoted to Mary, the earliest documented English use of the term to refer to a university is in 1600, when University of Cambridge printer John Legate began using an emblem for the universitys press. In English etymological reference works, the first university-related usage is often cited in 1710, many historic European universities have adopted Alma Mater as part of the Latin translation of their official name. The University of Bologna Latin name, Alma Mater Studiorum, refers to its status as the oldest continuously operating university in the world. At least one, the Alma Mater Europaea in Salzburg, Austria, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, has been called the Alma Mater of the Nation because of its ties to the founding of the United States. At Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, the ancient Roman world had many statues of the Alma Mater, some still extant. Modern sculptures are found in prominent locations on several American university campuses, outside the United States, there is an Alma Mater sculpture on the steps of the monumental entrance to the Universidad de La Habana, in Havana, Cuba. Media related to Alma mater at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of alma mater at Wiktionary Alma Mater Europaea website
5.
London School of Economics
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The London School of Economics is a public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. LSE is located in Westminster, central London, near the boundary between Covent Garden and Holborn, the area is historically known as Clare Market. The LSE has more than 10,000 students and 3,300 staff and it had a total income of £340.7 million in 2015/16, of which £30.3 million was from research grants. 155 nationalities are represented amongst LSEs student body and the school has the highest percentage of students of all British universities. Despite its name, the school is organised into 25 academic departments and institutes which conduct teaching and research across a range of legal studies, in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, the School had the highest proportion of world-leading research among research submitted of any British non-specialist university. The LSE is usually considered part of the triangle of highly research-intensive universities in southeast England. It is a member of organisations such as the Association of Commonwealth Universities, the European University Association. LSE has produced notable alumni in the fields of law, history, economics, philosophy, business, literature, media. Alumni and staff include 52 past or present heads of state or government and 20 members of the current British House of Commons. To 2016, 27% of all the Nobel Prizes in Economics have been awarded or jointly awarded to LSE alumni, current staff or former staff, LSE alumni and staff have also won 3 Nobel Peace Prizes, and 2 Nobel Prizes in Literature. Out of all European universities, LSE has educated the most billionaires according to a 2014 global census of U. S dollar billionaires, LSE graduates earn higher incomes on average than those of any other British university. The London School of Economics was founded in 1895 by Beatrice and Sidney Webb, Hutchinson, a lawyer and member of the Fabian Society, left the money in trust, to be put towards advancing its objects in any way they deem advisable. The five trustees were Sidney Webb, Edward Pease, Constance Hutchinson, William de Mattos, LSE records that the proposal to establish the school was conceived during a breakfast meeting on 4 August 1894, between the Webbs, Graham Wallas and George Bernard Shaw. The proposal was accepted by the trustees in February 1895 and LSE held its first classes in October of that year, in rooms at 9 John Street, Adelphi, in the City of Westminster. The School joined the federal University of London in 1900, and was recognised as a Faculty of Economics of the university, the University of London degrees of BSc and DSc were established in 1901, the first university degrees dedicated to the social sciences. Expanding rapidly over the years, the school moved initially to the nearby 10 Adelphi Terrace, then to Clare Market. The foundation stone of the Old Building, on Houghton Street, was laid by King George V in 1920, the 1930s economic debate between LSE and Cambridge is well known in academic circles. The dispute also concerned the question of the role
6.
University of St Andrews
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The University of St Andrews is a British public research university in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. It is the oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland, St Andrews was founded between 1410 and 1413, when the Avignon Antipope Benedict XIII issued a papal bull to a small founding group of Augustinian clergy. St Andrews is made up from a variety of institutions, including three constituent colleges and 18 academic schools organised into four faculties, the university occupies historic and modern buildings located throughout the town. The academic year is divided into two terms, Martinmas and Candlemas, in term time, over one-third of the towns population is either a staff member or student of the university. It is ranked as the third best university in the United Kingdom in national league tables, the Times Higher Education World Universities Ranking names St Andrews among the worlds Top 50 universities for Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities. St Andrews has the highest student satisfaction amongst all multi-faculty universities in the United Kingdom, St Andrews has many notable alumni and affiliated faculty, including eminent mathematicians, scientists, theologians, philosophers, and politicians. Six Nobel Laureates are among St Andrews alumni and former staff, a charter of privilege was bestowed upon the society of masters and scholars by the Bishop of St Andrews, Henry Wardlaw, on 28 February 1411. Wardlaw then successfully petitioned the Avignon Pope Benedict XIII to grant the university status by issuing a series of papal bulls. King James I of Scotland confirmed the charter of the university in 1432, subsequent kings supported the university with King James V confirming privileges of the university in 1532. A college of theology and arts called St Johns College was founded in 1418 by Robert of Montrose, St Salvators College was established in 1450, by Bishop James Kennedy. St Leonards College was founded in 1511 by Archbishop Alexander Stewart, St Johns College was refounded by Cardinal James Beaton under the name St Marys College in 1538 for the study of divinity and law. Some university buildings that date from this period are still in use today, such as St Salvators Chapel, St Leonards College Chapel, at this time, the majority of the teaching was of a religious nature and was conducted by clerics associated with the cathedral. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the university had mixed fortunes and was beset by civil. He described it as pining in decay and struggling for life, in the second half of the 19th century, pressure was building upon universities to open up higher education to women. In 1876, the University Senate decided to allow women to receive an education at St Andrews at a roughly equal to the Master of Arts degree that men were able to take at the time. The scheme came to be known as the L. L. A and it required women to pass five subjects at an ordinary level and one at honours level and entitled them to hold a degree from the university. In 1889 the Universities Act made it possible to admit women to St Andrews. Agnes Forbes Blackadder became the first woman to graduate from St Andrews on the level as men in October 1894
7.
British Academy
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The British Academy is the United Kingdoms national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It receives a grant from the Department for Business, Innovation. In 2014/15 the British Academys total income was £33,100,000, including £27,000,000 from BIS. £32,900,000 was distributed during the year in grants, awards. The British Academy was established in 1902 and received its Royal Charter in the same year and it is now a fellowship of more than 900 leading scholars spanning all disciplines across the humanities and social sciences. The Academy is a self-governing and independent registered charity, based at 10–11 Carlton House Terrace in London, as a learned society, it seeks to foster and promote the full range of work that makes up the humanities and social sciences, including inter- and multi-disciplinary work. Until 1927–28 the Academy had no premises, then it moved to some rooms in No.6 Burlington Gardens. In 1968 it moved the short distance to Burlington House and it subsequently moved to headquarters near Regents Park. Then in 1998 the Academy moved to its present headquarters in Carlton House Terrace, overlooking St Jamess Park, the Terrace was designed by John Nash and built in the 1820s and 1830s. Number 10 was formerly the London residence of the Ridley family, in March 2010, the Academy embarked on a £2. 75m project to renovate and restore the public rooms in No. 11, following the departure of former tenant the Foreign Press Association, the work was completed in January 2011 and the new spaces include a new 150-seat Wolfson Auditorium are available for public hire. The history, problems and achievements of the Academy have been recorded in works by two of its Secretaries, Sir Frederic Kenyon’s volume of 37 pages covers the years up to 1951, Sir Mortimer Wheeler’s volume covers the years 1949 to 1968. Election as a Fellow of the British Academy recognises high scholarly distinction in the humanities or social sciences, fellows may use the letters FBA after their names. The British Academy channels substantial public funding support for individuals and organisations pursuing humanities and social sciences research and scholarship in the UK. In 2014/15, the Academy received around £30m to support research and researchers across the humanities, funds available to the Academy were invested in the following main areas, research career development, a portfolio of research grant opportunities, and international engagement. The demand and quality of applications submitted for Academy funding remains high and this year the Academy received around 3,600 applications and made 588 awards to scholars based in around 100 different universities across the UK – a success rate of 16%. The Academy also funds and coordinates a network of overseas institutes which provide local expertise, logistical support, as the UKs national voice for the humanities and social sciences, the British Academy seeks to promote and protect the interests and health of these disciplines and their research base. The Centre was established in October 2009 initially funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and it oversees a programme of activity engaging the expertise within the humanities and social sciences to shed light on policy issues. It produces substantive reports making recommendations on policy and practice
8.
Royal Society of Edinburgh
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The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotlands national academy of science and letters. It is a charity, operating on a wholly independent and non-party-political basis. As of 2014 it has more than 1,500 Fellows, the Society covers a broader selection of fields than the Royal Society of London including literature and history. Fellowship includes people from a range of disciplines – science & technology, arts, humanities, medicine, social science, business. The Medals were instituted in 2000 by Queen Elizabeth II, whose permission is required to make a presentation, past winners include, The Lord Kelvin Medal is the Senior Prize for Physical, Engineering and Informatics Sciences. It is awarded annually to a person who has achieved distinction nationally and internationally, winners receive a silver medal and are required to deliver a public lecture in Scotland. The award is named after William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, who was a mathematical physicist and engineer. Senior Prize-winners are required to have a Scottish connection but can be based anywhere in the world, the Keith medal has been historically awarded every four years for a scientific paper published in the societys scientific journals, preference being given to a paper containing a discovery. It is awarded alternately for papers on Mathematics or Earth and Environmental Sciences, the medal was founded in 1827 as a result of a bequest by Alexander Keith of Dunottar, the first Treasurer of the Society. The prize was founded in 1855 by Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, the cumbersome name was changed the following year to the Edinburgh Philosophical Society. Under the leadership of Prof. Thus, for the first four decades of the 19th century, by the 1850s, the society once again unified its membership under one journal. During the 19th century the society produced many scientists whose ideas laid the foundation of the modern sciences, from the 20th century onward, the society functioned not only as a focal point for Scotlands eminent scientists, but also the arts and humanities. It still exists today and continues to promote research in Scotland. In February 2014, Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell was announced as the societys first female president, taking up her position in October
