 Coat of Arms | |
| Motto | Leaders in ideas and solutions |
|---|---|
| Type | Public |
| Established | 1821 – School of Arts of Edinburgh 1852 – Watt Institution and School of Arts 1885 – Heriot-Watt College 1966 – university byRoyal Charter |
| Endowment | £12.2 million (2023)[1] |
| Budget | £259.5 million (2022/23)[1] |
| Chancellor | Sir Geoff Palmer |
| Principal | Richard Williams |
Academic staff | 925 Scotland based (2023)[2] |
Administrative staff | 1,737[3] |
| Students | Global: 31,000[3] Edinburgh: 10,665 (2023/24)[4] |
| Undergraduates | Edinburgh: 7,150 (2023/24)[4] |
| Postgraduates | Edinburgh: 3,515 (2023/24)[4] |
| Location | , Scotland, United Kingdom |
| Campus | Suburban |
| Other campus locations | Scottish Borders Orkney Dubai Malaysia |
| Affiliations | Association of Commonwealth Universities Universities Scotland Universities UK |
| Website | www |
 | |
Heriot-Watt University (Scottish Gaelic:Oilthigh Heriot-Watt[5]) is apublicresearch university based inEdinburgh,Scotland. It was established in 1821 as theSchool of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's firstmechanics' institute, and was subsequently granted university status byroyal charter in 1966. It is the eighth-oldest higher education institution in theUnited Kingdom.[6] The name Heriot-Watt was taken from Scottish inventorJames Watt and Scottish philanthropist and goldsmithGeorge Heriot.
The annual income of the institution for 2022–23 was £259.5 million of which £33 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £266.7 million.[1] Known for its focus on science as well as engineering, it is one of the 23 colleges that were granted university status in the 1960s, and it is sometimes considered aplate glass university, likeLancaster andWarwick.[7][8]
The university has three campuses in Scotland and one each in theUAE andMalaysia.
Heriot-Watt was established as the School of Arts of Edinburgh (not to be confused withEdinburgh College of Art[a]) by Scottish businessmanLeonard Horner on 16 October 1821. Having been inspired byAnderson's College inGlasgow, Horner established the school to provide practical knowledge of science and technology to Edinburgh's working men.[9][10]: 64–66 The institution was initially of modest size, giving lectures two nights a week in rented rooms[11] and it had a small library of around 500 technical works.[9][10]: 100 It was also oversubscribed, with admissions soon closing despite the cost of 15shillings for a year's access to lectures and the library.[9]
The school was managed by a board of eighteen directors[9] and primarily funded by sponsors from the middle and upper classes, includingRobert Stevenson andWalter Scott. It first became associated with the inventor and engineerJames Watt in 1824, as a means of raising funds to secure permanent accommodation. Justifying the association, School DirectorLord Cockburn said:
"[The building] shall be employed for the accommodation of the Edinburgh School of Arts; whereby the memory of Watt may forever be connected with the promotion, among a class of men to which he himself originally belonged, of those mechanical arts from which his own usefulness and glory arose.[10]: 103 "
In 1837, the School of Arts moved to leased accommodation on Adam Square, which it purchased in 1851 with funds raised in Watt's name. In honour of the purchase, the School changed its name to the Watt Institution and School of Arts in 1852. The statue of Watt was added in front of the Adam Square school in 1854 and has since moved as the premises moved.[12]
Heriot-Watt's time as the Watt Institution marked a transitional period for the organisation, as its curriculum broadened to include several subjects beyond mathematics and the physical sciences. While the School of Arts had catered almost exclusively to working-classartisans and technical workers, the Watt Institution admitted a large number of middle-class students, whom it attracted with new subjects in the sciences, social sciences and humanities. By 1885, the skilled working class were no longer the majority in an institution that had been created explicitly for them.[10]: 133–135
A shifting class make-up was not the only demographic change to affect the student body: in 1869 women were permitted to attend lectures for the first time. This move put the Watt Institution some way ahead ofScottish universities, who were only permitted to allow women to graduate 20 years later following the Universities (Scotland) Act of 1889.[13]: 163 The decision to admit women was made in large part owing to pressure from local campaignerMary Burton, who later became the institution's first female director in 1874.[10]: 133–135 [14]
In 1870, the Watt Institution was forced to move when Adam Square was demolished.[10]: 148–153 After a brief period on Roxburgh Place, it relocated to the newly constructedChambers Street near its former site. The move caused the institution severe financial difficulties, which were compounded by a combination of declining funds from subscribers and increased costs from its growing student body.
In 1873, the directors turned toGeorge Heriot's Trust for support and agreed to a merger of the Trust's endowment with the institution's own. The proposed merger was provisional to changes in the structure of the Watt Institution, which would see the organisation become a technical college with representatives of the Trust in management positions. Accepting these changes, the Watt Institution officially becameHeriot-Watt College in 1885 and was subsequently on far firmer financial ground.[10]: 160–161
The Watt Club was founded at the Watt Institution on 12 May 1854, and is today the oldest alumni organisation in the UK.[15] Following the unveiling of a statue of James Watt outside the institution, local jeweller J.E Vernon proposed that
"[a club should be formed] whose object would be to sup together on the anniversary of the birth of James Watt…and also to promote the interests of the School, by raising a fund each year to provide prizes.[10]: 144–145 "
Watt Club Medals are still awarded by the organisation each year to Heriot-Watt's most highly achieving students, while the Watt Club Prize is awarded by The Watt Club Council to recognise student initiative and enterprise.[16]
After the establishment of Heriot-Watt as a technical college, the new management committee set about extending the institution's buildings and strengthening its academic reputation.[17] In its new form the college was one of only three non-university institutions in the UK with the power to appoint professors, and the first of these was appointed in 1887. In 1902 the college became acentral institution, while in 1904 it introduced awards for graduating students which were similar to university degrees.[17]
Expansion meant that the college made increasing demands on George Heriot's Trust throughout the first part of the 20th century, which ultimately led to the independence of the two bodies in 1927. While the Trust continued to pay Heriot-Watt a fixed sum each year, from then on the college was responsible for managing its own financial affairs.[17] Heriot-Watt continued to expand after becoming independent, opening a new extension in 1935.[10]: 243
Both World Wars impacted on the speed of the college's expansion. DuringWorld War I, student numbers dropped as young men joined the army, while teaching in engineering stalled as the department was used for the manufacture of shells and munitions.[10]: 213–215 DuringWorld War II, student numbers dropped again and the electrical engineering department became involved in training the armed services in the use ofradar.
After the college introduced a postgraduate award in 1951, it offered awards equivalent to university degrees and doctorates in all practical respects. Recognising this, in 1963 theRobbins Report recommended that it should be awarded university status. On 1 February 1966 the recommendation was enacted, as the institution officially becameHeriot-Watt University.[17]
The first personal chair was appointed in 1974.[18]
While Heriot-Watt continued to expand in the centre of Edinburgh after attaining university status, the institution had grown big enough that relocation was felt to be desirable.[17] In 1966Midlothian County Council gifted the Riccarton estate north ofCurrie to the university, and in 1969 work began on transforming the site into a future campus.[10]: 252 The process of relocation to Riccarton continued until 1992, with teaching and facilities divided between the new campus and the city centre until then.[10]: 379–381
The university has continued to grow after completing its move to Riccarton, constructing additional student halls, a sports centre and a postgraduate centre on the site. The institution also expanded beyond Edinburgh, merging with the Scottish College of Textiles to create a campus in theScottish Borders in 1998, and opening a campus inDubai in 2006[10]: 436–441 and a campus inPutrajaya,Malaysia, in 2012.[19]
In recent years, the university's campus in Edinburgh has benefited from major infrastructural projects worth £60 million, with another £68 million worth investment announced. These include the UK's first purpose-built graduate centre (£6 million),[20] Scotland's elite Oriam Sports Performance Centre facility (£33 million),[21] and the UK's first FlexBIO flexible downstream bioprocessing centre (£2 million).[22] It is also constructing a 5,000 m2 Watt Innovation Building supporting Global Research, Innovation and Discovery [GRID][21] to boost 'creativity and ideas generation' on the university's growing Edinburgh campus. The university has plans to host a major £65 million film studio[23] and a £2.5 million academic partnership with the oil and gas firmTotal.[24]However, in 2017 it was also announced that a major budget shortfall and the impact ofBrexit would result in Heriot-Watt shedding 100 jobs by voluntary redundancies.[25]
Heriot-Watt currently has five campuses, and also runs distance learning programmes through 53 approved learning partners to students around the world.[26]
Heriot-Watt's main campus is located inRiccarton in South West Edinburgh on 380 acres (150 hectares) of parkland. The campus consists of: academic buildings, student residences, a postgraduate centre, shops, several library collections, childcare, healthcare, a chaplaincy, a variety of recreational and sports facilities, and a museum, as well as the Student Union's main premises.[27] It is also home to theEdinburgh Conference Centre and Europe's oldest research park, Heriot-Watt University Research Park which opened in 1971.[10]: 386 The university's Institute of Petroleum Engineering is based at its Edinburgh campus.[28]
Heriot-Watt's Scottish Borders Campus inGalashiels is home to the university's School of Textiles and Design.[29] The school began life in 1883 when the Galashiels Manufacturer's Corporation began running classes in practical courses for its workers. The institution gradually grew both in terms of student numbers and the number of courses it offered, and it ultimately became known as theScottish College of Textiles in 1968. In 1998 the college merged with Heriot-Watt, leading to the creation of the School of Textiles and Design in its modern form.[10]: 436–444
The school is one of the few fashion schools in the world which offers a menswear course at bachelor's degree level, and the only school in Scotland to offer a fashion communication course. It was ranked 11th place in the UK for art and design in the 2013 Complete University Guide,[30] produced a winner and five other finalists for theScottish Fashion Awards Graduate of the Year in June 2012.[31]
While the Scottish Borders Campus shares some facilities and administrative functions with Edinburgh, it is largely self-contained. As well as its own library, accommodation and catering facilities,[32] it has its own branch of the Student Union which runs events on the site[33] and is home to a collection of textile records and artefacts.[34] A new £12M student village opened at the Campus in September 2012.[35]
The entire campus is shared withBorders College, whose students make up the majority of those who study at the site.
Marillion's 1985 song Kayleigh was inspired by an SCT student, and refers to the snow and college halls of Galashiels.[36]
Heriot-Watt's Dubai campus opened in 2005. It was the first British university to set up in Dubai International Academic City.[6]
Offering a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses similar to those found in Scotland, the campus facilitates student exchanges between Britain and theGulf Emirates. It has facilities including a library, computer laboratory, cafes and restaurants.[37] An expanded campus opened in the city on 3 November 2011, allowing double the number of students to study for a Heriot-Watt degree in the city.[38]
In April 2019, Heriot-Watt's Dubai campus was crowned 'Best University' in theMiddle East at the first everForbes Middle East Higher Education Awards.[39]
The campus received a five-star rating for three consecutive years in 2019, 2020 and 2021 from theKnowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), the supreme educational quality assurance and regulatory authority of theGovernment of Dubai.[6][40]
In 2021, the university relocated its Dubai campus toDubai Knowledge Park.[41] The new campus was officially opened byKing Charles III on 30 November 2023, accompanied byScotland’sFirst Minister,Humza Yousaf.[42]
Heriot-Watt University Malaysia's purpose-built campus opened inPutrajaya in September 2014, £35 million was invested in the Malaysian campus, which is the first 'green campus' in the country. It is situated in a lakeside location of4+3⁄4 acres (1.9 hectares) offering undergraduate as well as master's degree.[43]
Heriot-Watt's campus inStromness,Orkney, is home to the International Centre for Island Technology (ICIT), part of the university's School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society. The Campus provides education to a small number of postgraduate students and is host to eight members of research staff.[44][45]
Heriot-Watt is divided into six schools and one institute that coordinate its teaching and research:
From 1 August 2016, the formerSchool of Life Sciences was merged with other schools, with programmes transferred to the School of Management and Languages, the School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society and the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences.[52]
| National rankings | |
|---|---|
| Complete (2025)[53] | 42= |
| Guardian (2025)[54] | 66 |
| Times / Sunday Times (2025)[55] | 51 |
| Global rankings | |
| ARWU (2024)[56] | 801–900 |
| QS (2025)[57] | 256= |
| THE (2025)[58] | 401–500 |
Heriot-Watt University was named International University of the Year[59] byThe Times andSunday Times Good University Guide 2018. Heriot-Watt is known for the strong prospects of its students, with 80% in graduate-level jobs or further study six months after leaving the institution.[60]
In 2011, Heriot-Watt was named asThe Sunday Times Scottish University of the Year 2011–2012, with the paper emphasising the employability of the institution's graduates.[60] In 2012, it was again Scottish University of the Year 2012–2013 for the second year running, and also became UK University of the Year for student experience.[61] The same year it came 1st in Scotland and 4th in the UK in the 2012National Student Survey.[60]
Times Higher Education's 'Table of Tables' is the combined results of the three main UK university league tables – theGood University Guide (published byThe Times andThe Sunday Times),The Guardian andThe Complete University Guide. In the Table of Tables 2015, Heriot-Watt was placed 27th in the UK and 3rd in Scotland. It is ranked 28th in the UK byThe Complete University Guide 2018 and 26th in the UK byThe Guardian University League Table 2018.[62] In a 2015 detail report on UK universities,Durham academic Vikki Boliver placed Oxford and Cambridge in the first tier, and included Heriot-Watt in the second tier made of the remaining 22Russell Group universities and 17 other "pre-92" universities.[7][8]
In 2020, Heriot-Watt was ranked at 314 byQS World University Rankings and at 251–300 byTimes Higher Education World University Rankings in the world. It was ranked 243rd in the world for engineering and technology by QS Rankings in 2019.[63] It was ranked 143rd in the world for technical sciences in 2018 byRound University Ranking.[64]
In 2017,Business Insider ranked Heriot-Watt the 3rd best UK university to study economics.[65] It was ranked among 201-250 globally for Business and Economics by Times in 2019.[66] In 2018,ARWU ranked Heriot-Watt globally among 51–75 for Telecom Engineering and 101–150 for Civil Engineering, Mathematics and Oceanography.[67]
Nationally, the university is ranked highly forPlanning and Building education. In 2019, the university was ranked 4th in UK and 1st in Scotland for Town & Country Planning and Landscape Design byThe Complete University Guide.[68] It was also ranked 9th in UK and 1st in Scotland for Building and Town & Country Planning byThe Guardian in the same year.[69] In the 2019The Complete University Guide national subject rankings Heriot-Watt had the following rankings: 2nd (of 34) – Building education,[70] 17th (of 104) – Accounting and Finance, 15th (of 81) – Art and Design, 14th (of 30) – Chemical Engineering,[71] 23rd (of 60) – Chemistry,[72] 1 (of 56) – Civil Engineering,[73] 25th (of 110) – Computer Science,[74] 22nd (of 77) – Economics,[75] 23rd (of 68) – Electrical Engineering,[68] 15th (of 72) – Mathematics,[76] 14th (of 69) – Mechanical Engineering,[77] and 25th (of 48) – Physics and Astronomy.[68] The university has been constantly ranked among the top 10 universities in UK for Building education since 2010.[78]
As of February 2017, approximately 13,700 students are enrolled at one of Heriot-Watt's campuses: 66.6% in Scotland, 24.2% in Dubai and 9.2% in Malaysia. In the Scotland campus, the university has a female:male ratio of 41:59.[79]
Under the framework of the European Education system and as part of theErasmus Mundus program Heriot-Watt University offers a Masters in Strategic Project Management jointly withPolitecnico di Milano (Italy) andUmeå University (Sweden).[80] Students in the program study at all three institutions over two years and at the conclusion receive degrees issued by all three. The program ranks number 11 in theEduniversal Bests Masters Ranking and number 25 in theQS World University Rankings worldwide.[81][82]
The Student Union at Heriot-Watt is a student-led organisation headed by individuals elected from the student population. The association has represented students both locally and nationally since its foundation in 1966,[83] and is a member of both the Edinburgh Students' Forum and the National Union of Students (NUS).[84] It is also responsible for running the university's Student Union, which runs events for students and supports student societies. Over 50 societies currently exist, including the Brewing Society which organises an annual charitybeer festival.[85] In addition, the Student Union runs many services at the Edinburgh and Scottish Borders campuses including catering facilities, a nightclub, an advice centre and a student shop.[86] The Student Union also works closely with the Heriot-Watt University Dubai Student Council[87] and the Heriot-Watt University Malaysia Student Association.[88] In 2018 the Student Union won the University Student Union of the Year and also Officer Team of the Year at the NUS Scotland Awards 2018.[89]
The Sports Union is responsible for the university's 30 sports clubs.[90] and runs annual social events for students involved in sport. As with the Students' Association, the organisation is headed by elected Heriot-Watt students.[91]
Media related toHeriot-Watt University at Wikimedia Commons
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