 Official Coat of Arms (as granted byLyon Court) | |
| Motto | Latin:Magnificat anima mea dominum[1] |
|---|---|
Motto in English | "My soul doth magnify the Lord" |
| Type | Public university |
| Established | 1967 – gained independentuniversity status byroyal charter 1897 –Constituent college of theUniversity of St Andrews 1881 – University College |
| Endowment | £34.4 million (2023)[2] |
| Budget | £325.3 million (2022/23)[2] |
| Chancellor | The Baron Robertson of Port Ellen |
| Rector | Maggie Chapman MSP |
| Principal | Nigel Seaton (interim)[3] |
Academic staff | 1,490 (2023/24)[4] |
Administrative staff | 1,830 (2023/24)[4] |
| Students | 14,990 (2023/24)[5] 13,270FTE (2023/24)[5] |
| Undergraduates | 10,395 (2023/24)[5] |
| Postgraduates | 4,595 (2023/24)[5] |
| Location | , Scotland, UK |
| Colours | |
| Affiliations | |
| Website | dundee |
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TheUniversity of Dundee[a] is apublicresearch university based inDundee, Scotland. It was founded as auniversity college in 1881 with a donation from the prominent Baxter family oftextile manufacturers. The institution was, for most of its early existence, aconstituent college of theUniversity of St Andrews alongsideUnited College andSt Mary's College located in the town ofSt Andrews itself. Following significant expansion, the University of Dundee gained independent university status byroyal charter in 1967 while retaining elements of itsancient heritage andgovernance structure.
The main campus of the university is located in Dundee'sWest End, which contains many of the university's teaching and research facilities; theDuncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design,Dundee Law School and the Dundee Dental Hospital and School. The university has additional facilities atNinewells Hospital, containing itsSchool of Medicine;Perth Royal Infirmary, which houses a clinical research centre; and inKirkcaldy,Fife, containing part of its School of Health Sciences. The annual income of the institution for 2022–23 was £325.7 million of which £78.9 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £330.2 million.[2]
The University of Dundee has its roots in the earlieruniversity college based in Dundee and theUniversity of St Andrews. During the 19th century, the growing population of Dundee significantly increased demand for the establishment of an institution of higher education in the city and several organisations were established to promote this end, including a University Club in the city. There was a significant movement with the intention of moving the entire university to Dundee (which the royal commission[which?] observed was now a "large and increasing town") or the establishment of a college along very similar lines to the presentUnited College. Finally, agreement was reached that what was needed was expansion of the sciences and professions, rather than the arts at St Andrews.[6]
A donation of £120,000 for the creation of an institution of higher education in Dundee was made by MissMary Ann Baxter of Balgavies, a notable lady of the city and heir to the fortune of William Baxter of Balgavies. In this endeavour, she was assisted by her relative, John Boyd Baxter, an alumnus of St Andrews andProcurator Fiscal ofForfarshire who also contributed nearly £20,000. In order to craft the institution and its principles, it was to be established first as an independent university college, with a view from its very inception towards incorporation into the University of St Andrews.[6]
In 1881, the ideals of the proposed new college were laid down, suggesting the establishment of an institute for "promoting the education of persons of both sexes and the study of Science, Literature and the Fine Arts". The university currently identifies 1881 as the year of its foundation, as University College's endowment was dated 31 December 1881, but the year 1880, when the announcement of Mary Ann Baxter's funding was made, as well as the years 1882 and 1883 have also been cited as their foundation year by the institution in the past.[7]
No religious oaths were to be required of members. Later that year, "University College, Dundee" was established as an academic institution and the first principal,Sir William Peterson, was elected in late 1882. When opened in 1883, it comprised five faculties: Maths and Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Engineering and Drawing, English Language and Literature and Modern History, and Philosophy. The University College had no power to award degrees and for some years some students were prepared forexternal examinations of theUniversity of London.[8] By 1894, the faculties offered at the college remained essentially scientific in outlook, with three academics - including the principal,William Peterson - giving instruction in classics,philosophy, English and history at both the Dundee and St Andrews sites.[9]
The policy of no discrimination between the sexes, which was insisted upon by Mary Ann Baxter, meant that the new college recruited several able female students. Their number included the social reformerMary Lily Walker and, later,Margaret Fairlie who in 1940 became Scotland's first female professor.[10][11] Another early female graduate, Ruth Wilson, later Young, became professor of surgery atLady Hardinge Medical College in Delhi and later became its principal.[12]
Following discussions around various forms of incorporation and association, students were able to matriculate through the University of St Andrews from 1885.[13] The full incorporation was completed in 1897 when University College became part of the University of St Andrews. This move was of notable benefit to both, enabling the University of St Andrews (which was in a small town) to support a medical school. Medical students could choose to undertake preclinical studies either in Dundee or St Andrews (at theBute Medical School) after which all students would undertake their clinical studies at Dundee. Eventually, law, dentistry and other professional subjects were taught at University College. By 1904 University College had a roll of 208, making up 40 per cent of the roll of the university generally. By session 1909–1910, 234 students were studying at University College, 101 of whom were female. Among the notable students at this time wereRobert Watson-Watt, theradar pioneer;William Alexander Young the epidemiologist who later died inAccra while studying yellow fever; and David Rutherford Dow who would go on to be a senior member of staff at the college.[14]
In 1895, unlike the students at St Andrews, there were reportedly very few "bona-fide"matriculated students at Dundee who were "aiming to graduate".[15] During the academic years of 1892–4, those students at Dundee who hadmatriculated at St Andrews were considered St Andrews University students and were subsequently awarded degrees by St. Andrews. Although the union between the two institutions was then threatened by alawsuit, by 1898 the union with St. Andrews was restored on the original basis.[16][17]
University College's development in the early twentieth century has been described as "slow and fitful" and the interwar period saw virtually no new building projects, leaving large parts of the college housed in buildings which were not fit for purpose.[18] Kenneth Baxter has claimed thatWorld War I had a major impact on University College and stated that the conflict presented it with "a storm of challenges unlike anything it had faced" up to that point.[19] Baxter contends that the War impacted the college greatly, with key consequences being declining student numbers which in turn led to a loss of income, as well as staff departures and the decaying of fabric.[20] In 2018 it was revealed that research shows that while the college'swar memorial records the names of 37 staff and former students who died at least a further 39 alumni of the college were not recorded on it.[20][21] In 1920 the college received a war trophy in the form of a "40 ton, 15 cm field gun", which was thought to have been captured from Bulgarian forces and was sited in front of the students Union.[22]
Attempts were made to raise income. In 1923Rudyard Kipling, then therector of the University of St Andrews, visited University College and asked the merchant princes and leading citizens of Dundee to give the college their money and support. Kipling implored those who had lost their sons in theGreat War to consider giving a donation so that their names would live on.[23] Staff of a high calibre continued to be employed by the university including Alexander Peacock andMargaret Fairlie, who in 1940 was appointed as professor ofobstetrics and gynaecology and thus became the first woman to hold a professorial chair at a university in Scotland.[18][24]
In 1947, the principal of University College,Douglas Wimberley released the "Wimberley Memo" (resulting in the Cooper and Tedder reports of 1952), advocating independence for the college. In 1954, after a royal commission, University College was renamed "Queen's College" and the Dundee-based elements of the university gained a greater degree of independence and flexibility. It was also at this time that Queen's College absorbed the former Dundee School of Economics as well as the jointly administered medical school and dental school.[13]
The publication of theRobbins Report on Higher Education in 1963, which considered the question of university education expansion throughout the country, provided impetus to the movement to attain independent university status for Dundee. At this time, a number of new institutions were being elevated to this status, such as theUniversity of Stirling, and second universities were created in Edinburgh and Glasgow (Heriot-Watt University and theUniversity of Strathclyde) despite their having fewer than 2,000 students.[6]
Queen's College's size and location, alongside a willingness to expand, led to an eventual decision to separate from the wider University of which it remained an integral part. In 1966, St AndrewsUniversity Court and the Council of Queen's College submitted a joint petition to thePrivy Council seeking the grant of aroyal charter to establish the University of Dundee. This petition was approved and the Charter was granted which saw Queen's College become the University of Dundee, on 1 August 1967. The university continued a number of the traditions of its originator college and university and continues to be organised under theancient university governance structure.[25]
In 1974, the university began to validate some degrees from Dundee'sDuncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, and by 1988 all degrees from that institution were being validated in this fashion. In 1994 the two institutions merged, with the college becoming a constituent faculty of the university.[26] In 1996, the Tayside College of Nursing and the Fife College of Health studies became part of the university, as a school of Nursing and Midwifery.[27] For several years, Dundee College of Education prepared students for degree examinations at the University of Dundee, and in December 2001 the university merged with the Dundee campus of Northern College to create a Faculty of Education and Social Work.[28]
In October 2005, the university became home to the firstUNESCO centre in the United Kingdom. The IHP-HELP Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science is involved in research regarding the management of the world's water resources on behalf of theUnited Nations.[29] A school of accounting and finance was introduced in 2007. These disciplines are now part of the School of Business.
Due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, the university suspended most face to face teaching from 16 March 2020. However, a "blended learning" approach was offered to many students with weekly tutorials available in person for small groups using COVID-19 protocols of social distancing and regular cleaning.[30]
The main campus is within theWest End of theCity of Dundee.[31] It has expanded greatly since the university gained independence, from just four converted buildings when the University College was founded in 1881 the university has grown to consist of over fifty at present. However, many buildings survive from Dundee's period as a university college and as a constituent college of St Andrews University. The earliest purpose-built facility on campus was the Carnelley Building which opened in 1883 as part of the new University College.[32] A £10,000 donation from Mary Ann Baxter provided for a chemistry laboratory situated in the building which was named for the university's first professor of chemistry, Thomas Carnelley.[33]
The buildings at the heart of the university form the Geddes Quadrangle. These include the Carnegie, Harris and Peters Buildings which were constructed in 1909 as part of the new college of the University of St Andrews.[34] The Geddes Quadrangle was named forPatrick Geddes, a pioneering thinker in the fields of sociology and urban planning and former professor of botany at Dundee, as a botanist Geddes had originally proposed a garden in the center of the quadrangle to be used for teaching purposes.[35] The designer was Victorian architectRobert Rowand Anderson, the architect of buildings such as theScottish National Portrait Gallery andMount Stuart House.[36]
Amid the expansion of education inpost-war Britain, the University College, Dundee commissioned the construction of several new buildings to cope with the increasing numbers of students and academics arriving. The first of these was the Ewing Building which had started planning in 1950 and was officially opened in 1954. Named after SirJames Alfred Ewing, the university's first professor of engineering.[37][38] The Fulton Building gave the civil and mechanical engineering department a dedicated building, it was opened in 1964 and took its name fromAngus Robertson Fulton, former principal of University College, Dundee (1939–1946).[39]
The 1960s saw the further development of the Queen's College campus with some of the earliest multi-story towers in Scotland being built for both teaching and student accommodation. The Tower Building, opened in 1961 byQueen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, exemplified earlyScottish modernist architecture and was designed byRobert Matthew; it stands 140 ft tall with ten storeys home to both academic, executive and administrative departments of the university.[40][41][42] The Tower was built on the site of two of the original four Georgian houses which had housed University College, Dundee (originally known as Whiteleys). Its construction was notable as it was the tallest structure built in Dundee since theOld Steeple in the medieval period. The building was extended in the later 1960s was resulted in the demolition of the remaining two original buildings.[42]
Belmont Halls of Residence took inspiration from Danish design and aimed to provide modern, spacious quarters for students while keeping costs cheap; it was completed in 1963 on the site of Belmont Works, a former jute mill.[43]
The 2000s brought extensive renovation to the university's central campus, with a number of new and upgraded buildings introduced around 2007 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the university's independence. Large extensions have been placed on the Main Library and sports centre, and a number of new halls of residence (Heathfield, Belmont, West Park and Seabraes) have been gradually phased into operation.[44][45] The Dalhousie building was erected during this period as dedicated teaching accommodation for the university, in part replacing space previously at the Gardyne Road campus of Northern College, which has now been taken up byDundee College. Significant improvement works have taken place in old buildings such as the Old Technical Institute, Medical Sciences Institute and Old Medical School buildings.[46]
The School of Nursing and Health Sciences has a campus on Forth Avenue, Kirkcaldy, Fife.[47][48] This offers degrees in nursing, midwifery and other health-related subjects. Placements are available often in conjunction with NHS Fife.
The University of Dundee is organised under the provisions of its royal charter, which granted the university its independence in 1967.[25] Dundee, uniquely outside of the fourancient universities of Scotland has a governance framework which shares a number of similarities with theancient governance structure which was developed in the 19th and 20th centuries through the variousUniversities (Scotland) Acts.
The chancellor is the head of the university and president of the Graduates' Council, with a role of presiding over academic ceremonies such asgraduations.[49] The six chancellors of the university to have held office since its independence are:
Therector of the university is an official elected by the matriculated students of the university for a three-year term.[52] In common with otheruniversity rectors in Scotland, the position is largely ceremonial, although it does involve the representation of students on the University Court. The rector at Dundee, unlike that of the ancient universities, does not chair the University Court, that duty instead falling to a lay member.[53] The rector may appoint an assessor who can carry out the rector's functions on their behalf when they are absent. The university gained national attention in 2001 when it seemed that actorDavid Hasselhoff may stand as rector.[54]
As part of the process of installation, the students traditionally take the new rector on the 'rectorial drag' which involves them being 'dragged' fromDundee City Chambers to the university in the university's owncarriage visiting on the way some of the manypubs in the city as part of the informal welcome to the university.[55]
The present holder of the position is Maggie Chapman MSP, who was elected and took up the post in 2025.[56] She replaced artist manager, Keith Harris, who in turn replaced sports broadcasterJim Spence, who was installed in 2019 but did not serve a full term partly due to changes in personal circumstances as a result of COVID-19.[57] Prior to Spence, the rector wasMark Beaumont, the record-breaking endurance cyclist.[58]
Previous Rectors since the university's independence have includedSir Peter Ustinov,Sir Clement Freud, andStephen Fry, who each served two terms, andCraig Murray,Tony Slattery,Lorraine Kelly andFred MacAulay, who each served one.[59][60]
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The Principal and Vice-Chancellor is the chief academic and administrative officer of the university, presiding over the Senatus Academicus.[62] As a result of their title as Vice-Chancellor, the Principal can fulfill the duties of the Chancellor in their absence. Prior to the university's independence, when it was part of theUniversity of St Andrews, a similar function was carried out by the Master of Queen's College. This position replaced the earlier post of principal of University College, Dundee, which was first filled in 1882.
Following the announced resignation of Principal and Vice-ChancellorSir Pete Downes in February 2018, the university appointedProfessor Andrew Atherton to the post, to begin in January 2019.[63] Atherton resigned following a dispute with the university in November 2019.[64]
Holders of this position and its predecessors are:
As of 1 August 2022, the University of Dundee is organised into eight schools containing multiple disciplines.[74] Each individual school is formally headed by a dean. The following is a full list of the academic divisions of the university:
School of Art and Design School of Business
School of Dentistry
| School of Life Sciences School of Medicine School of Health Sciences
School of Science and Engineering
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| National rankings | |
|---|---|
| Complete (2026)[75] | 39 |
| Guardian (2026)[76] | 26 |
| Times / Sunday Times (2026)[77] | 23= |
| Global rankings | |
| ARWU (2025)[78] | 301–400 |
| QS (2026)[79] | 428= |
| THE (2026)[80] | 301–350 |
As of 2025[update], Dundee is ranked within the top 500 universities in the world according to the major global rankings (Times,QS, andARWU); placing 301-350th in the Times World University rankings, joint 428th in theQS World University Rankings and 301-400th in theAcademic Ranking of World Universities. The university wasThe Times Good University Guide's "Scottish University of the Year" consecutively in 2015/16 and 2016/17.[81]
In both the 2021 and 2014Research Excellence Framework which assesses research output between 2008-2020, the quality of research for Biological Sciences at Dundee is ranked 2nd in the United Kingdom by GPA, behind only the specialistInstitute of Cancer Research.[82] According to the 2024Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject, Dundee's strongest subjects are Life Sciences, ranked in the top 125 in the world[83] and Law, ranked in the top 150 in the world.[84] The 2023QS World University Rankings by Subject ranks the university in the top 200 in the world for Pharmacy & Pharmacology, Biological Sciences, Art & Design, Nursing, and Medicine.[85]
In the 2024 Guardian university rankings in the UK, Dundee's subject offerings in Dentistry (3rd in UK, 1st in Scotland), and Computer science and information systems (9th in UK, 3rd in Scotland) rank within the top ten nationally.[86] In 2023/2024 Anatomy & Physiology, Art and Design, Biological Sciences, Social Work and Medicine rank within the top ten nationally in at least one of the rankings.[87]
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| Domicile[91] and Ethnicity[92] | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| British White[b] | 65% | ||
| British Ethnic Minorities[c] | 13% | ||
| International EU | 3% | ||
| International Non-EU | 19% | ||
| UndergraduateWidening Participation Indicators[91][93] | |||
| Female | 66% | ||
| Independent School | 9% | ||
| Low Participation Areas[d] | 16% | ||
Students at Dundee are represented by the university'sstudents' representative council and the Rector in common with other universities in Scotland sharing the ancient organisational structure.
The Dundee University Students' Association (DUSA), unlike many otherstudents' unions in the United Kingdom, is not affiliated to theNational Union of Students, mainly due to cost concerns and political objections.
Membership of the Students' Association is automatic for all students of the university, although it is possible under statutes to renounce this membership at any time. The Association, as with the other ancient universities in Scotland, co-exists with the University'sstudents' representative council.
The DUSA building is located in Airlie Place, in the centre of the University's Main Campus and caters as a private members' club offering bar, nightclub and refectory services for students.[94] DUSA also provides a number of other typical students' union services such as advocacy on behalf of its membership and assistance to individual students. In addition the DUSA facilitates the creation of student societies, as of 2023 there are 240 student-led societies on campus.
As of 2016, there are 43 clubs affiliated with the Sports' Union. There is an annual award ceremony for the sports clubs, and a Blues & Colours Ball (seeBlue (university sport)) to provide social interaction between the clubs.
Sport and Active Health (SpAH), unlike the Sports Union, is directly controlled by the university, but works closely with the students' organisations. Its chief building is located on Old Hawkhill in the main campus, which contains the main indoor sporting facilities and the university's gym.
Outdoor facilities are mainly based in the Riverside Sporting Ground, within a reasonable walking distance and bordering theTay, although there are others – such as tennis courts – spread throughout the main campus. SpAH's 25m swimming pool is located within the Students' Association building on Airlie Place.
Notable sporting achievements of the university include winning theBritish University Gaelic football Championship in 1994 and being the first team in Scottish rugby history to win the league and SUS Cup double in the 2007/08 season.[citation needed]
The University Chaplaincy Centre was constructed in 1974 and extended in 1987 and houses both the University Chapel and a number of other related social facilities.
The university has a full-time chaplain, Fiona Douglas (since 1997), who is a minister of theChurch of Scotland. There are also several part-time associate and honorary chaplains representing other faiths and denominations.
Dundee students participate in a number of traditional events during the academic calendar. Towards the start of the year, a standard BritishFreshers' Week is organised, with a secondary one held when the university reconvenes after the Christmas vacation.
Traditions remaining from Dundee's days as a college of theUniversity of St Andrews include the Gaudie Night (taking its name from the first line of the students' anthem,De Brevitate Vitae) – held early in the first semester and organised both as a Students' Union night and an event organised by the individual schools (for example by the Life Sciences, Medical, Law and Dentistry Societies) where students are assigned academic "parents" from the senior years. Some weeks later, a Raisin (alternatively spelled "Raisen") weekend is held to all new students to repay their academic parents' hospitality. Generally the school society-run events are more traditional in nature than the Students' Union event.
For 21 years (2004-2024), the University organised Discovery Days, a series of public talks from newly-appointed or promoted professors. The last Discovery Days event took place in January 2024. Inaugural lectures for new professors will be organised by the University’s academic schools.[95]
The university has a number of student residences spaced around the city. Over the last decade there has been an attempt to move some of these halls of residence closer to the main campus. With the closure and re-building of West Park Hall in 2005, all of the halls are now self catered en-suite.
At present, there are the following university residences:
Some older halls, despite remaining open in the interim until building works were finished, are now out of use – the last students moved out in early 2007. These are:
The university's cultural and historic collections are looked after by Museum Services and Archive Services.
Dundee has significant museum collections acquired over the 140 years of its history. These include fine art, design furniture, textiles, scientific instruments, medical equipment and natural history specimens. The collections are accredited as a public museum and are cared for by Museum Services.[96] In 2012 it was announced that Museum Services had been awarded a grant of £100,000 bythe Art Fund to develop an art collection inspired byD'Arcy Thompson.[97][98] This body promotes the various departments of the university involved in cultural activity and runs an annual culture day of short public lectures.[99][100] In January 2014 it was announced that Museum Services had been awarded funding of £32,407 to acquire a new object database to aid the management of its various collections of nearly 30,000 items.[101]
The university's Archive Services was established in 1976[102] and maintains the University of Dundee's manuscripts and records collections. The archives hold a wide range of material relating to the university and its predecessor institutions and to individuals associated with the university. Archive Services also holds a number of records relating to individuals, businesses and organizations based in theTayside area.[103] The records held include a substantial number of business archives relating to thejute andlinen industry inDundee and West Bengal, records of other businesses including the archives of theAlliance Trust and the department store G. L. Wilson, the records of theBrechin Diocese of theScottish Episcopal Church, theMichael Peto photographic collection and theNHS Tayside Archive.[104][105] Archive Services' other collections include the archives ofDundee Repertory Theatre[106] and the papers of the Great War poetJoseph Johnston Lee.[107] In addition to material relating to the local area, the archives have a number of documents relating to other countries, especially India.[108] The Archives also hold the records of theGlasite Church.[109][110][111]
The archives also house some special book collections. These include rare books relating to local history and the Joan Auld Memorial Collection, an important collection of labour history books donated to the university in 1996 in memory of Joan Auld, the first university archivist, who had died in a climbing accident the previous year.[112][113][114]
Archive Services also runs an ongoing oral history project to record the memories of individuals who have lived and worked in Dundee and hold public events to promote the project.[115]
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This list includes certain persons who are graduates of theUniversity of St Andrews, having studied at the University College or Queen's College in Dundee, as well as graduates of the University of Dundee. This is a result of the incorporation of this institution in the other from 1897 to 1967. Indeed, in a great many respects, the medical school at the University of Dundee is the direct inheritor of the medical traditions of theUniversity of St Andrews. It also includes notable former members of staff of these institutions.[116][117]
Former chancellor SirJames Black, who had studied medicine at the then University College Dundee, won theNobel Prize for Medicine for his work on the discovery ofpropranolol – abeta-blocker for the treatment ofhypertension.Ronald Coase served as a founding lecturer from 1932 to 1934 of the Dundee School of Economics and Commerce. Coase received theNobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1991 for his work on the significance of transaction costs and property rights for the institutional structure and functioning of the economy.
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56°27′26″N2°58′49″W / 56.45722°N 2.98028°W /56.45722; -2.98028
