Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
research university
A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kno ...
based in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first
mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted university status by
royal charter
A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, bu ...
in 1966. It is the eighth-oldest higher education institute in the UK. The name Heriot-Watt was taken from Scottish inventor
James Watt
James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fun ...
and Scottish philanthropist and goldsmith
George Heriot
George Heriot (15 June 1563 – 12 February 1624) was a Scottish goldsmith and philanthropist. He is chiefly remembered today as the founder of George Heriot's School, a large independent school in Edinburgh; his name has also been given to H ...
.
Known for its focus on science and engineering, it is one of the 23 colleges being granted university status in the 1960s and sometimes considered a
plate glass university
The term plate glass university or plateglass university refers to a group of universities in the United Kingdom established or promoted to university status in the 1960s. The original plate glass universities were established following decisi ...
in the likes of
Keele
Keele is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. It is approximately three miles (5 km) west of Newcastle-under-Lyme, and is close to the village of Silverdale. Keele lies on the A53 roa ...
and
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
.
History
School of Arts of Edinburgh
Heriot-Watt was established as the School of Arts of Edinburgh (not to be confused with
Edinburgh College of Art
Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is one of eleven schools in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Tracing its history back to 1760, it provides higher education in art and design, architecture, histor ...
) by Scottish businessman
Leonard Horner
Leonard Horner FRSE FRS FGS (17 January 1785 – 5 March 1864) was a Scottish merchant, geologist and educational reformer. He was the younger brother of Francis Horner.
Horner was a founder of the School of Arts of Edinburgh, now Heriot-Wa ...
on 16 October 1821. Having been inspired by
Anderson's College
The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...
in
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
, Horner established the school to provide practical knowledge of science and technology to Edinburgh's working men.
The institution was initially of modest size, giving lectures two nights a week in rented rooms and boasting a small library of around 500 technical works.
It was also oversubscribed, with admissions soon closing despite the cost of 15
shillings
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence or ...
for a year's access to lectures and the library.
The school was managed by a board of eighteen directors
and primarily funded by sponsors from the middle and upper classes including
Robert Stevenson Robert Stevenson may refer to:
* Robert Stevenson (actor and politician) (1915–1975), American actor and politician
* Robert Stevenson (civil engineer) (1772–1850), Scottish lighthouse engineer
* Robert Stevenson (director) (1905–1986), Engl ...
and
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...
. It first became associated with the inventor and engineer
James Watt
James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was fun ...
in 1824, as a means of raising funds to secure permanent accommodation. Justifying the association, School Director
Lord Cockburn
Henry Thomas Cockburn of Bonaly, Lord Cockburn ( ; Cockpen, Midlothian, 26 October 1779 – Bonaly, Midlothian, 26 April/18 July 1854) was a Scottish lawyer, judge and literary figure. He served as Solicitor General for Scotland between 1830 an ...
said:
"he building
He or HE may refer to:
Language
* He (pronoun), an English pronoun
* He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ
* He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets
* He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
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. "
In 1837, the School of Arts moved to leased accommodation on Adam Square, which it was able to purchase in 1851 thanks to 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.
Watt Institution and School of Arts
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-class
artisans
An artisan (from french: artisan, it, artigiano) is a skilled craft worker who makes or creates material objects partly or entirely by hand. These objects may be functional or strictly decorative, for example furniture, decorative art, s ...
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.
A shifting class make-up was not the only demographic change to affect the student body, as in 1869 women were permitted to attend lectures for the first time. This move put the Watt Institution some way ahead of
Scottish universities
There are fifteen universities in Scotland and three other institutions of higher education that have the authority to award academic degrees.
The first university college in Scotland was founded at St John's College, St Andrews in 1418 by H ...
, who were only permitted to allow women to graduate 20 years later following the Universities (Scotland) Act of 1889.
[Barnett, H. (2011). Constitutional & Administrative Law (8th Edition). Routledge. ] The decision to admit women was made in large part owing to pressure from local campaigner
Mary Burton
Mary Hill Burton (1819-1909) was a Scottish social and educational reformer and the first woman governor of Heriot-Watt College.
Biography
Mary Burton was born in Aberdeen but moved to Edinburgh in 1832 with her widowed mother and her brother, t ...
, who later became the institution's first female director in 1874.
In 1870, the Watt Institution was forced to move following the demolition of Adam Square.
After a brief period on Roxburgh Place, it relocated to the newly constructed
Chambers Street near where its former site had stood. 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 to
George Heriot
George Heriot (15 June 1563 – 12 February 1624) was a Scottish goldsmith and philanthropist. He is chiefly remembered today as the founder of George Heriot's School, a large independent school in Edinburgh; his name has also been given to H ...
'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 became Heriot-Watt College in 1885 and was subsequently on far firmer financial ground.
The Watt Club
The Watt Club was founded at the Watt Institution on 12 May 1854, and is today the oldest alumni organisation in the UK. Following the unveiling of a statue of James Watt outside the institution, local jeweller J.E Vernon proposed that
" club should be formedwhose 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."
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.
Heriot-Watt College
![Chambers Street, Edinburgh - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Chambers_Street%2C_Edinburgh_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1419940.jpg)
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.
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 a
central institution, while in 1904 it introduced awards for graduating students which were similar to university degrees.
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.
Heriot-Watt continued to expand after becoming independent, opening a new extension in 1935.
Both World Wars impacted on the speed of the college's expansion. During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, 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.
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, student numbers dropped again and the electrical engineering department became involved in training the armed services in the use of
radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...
.
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 the
Robbins Report
The Robbins Report (the report of the Committee on Higher Education, chaired by Lord Robbins) was commissioned by the British government and published in 1963. The committee met from 1961 to 1963. After the report's publication, its conclusions wer ...
recommended that it should be awarded university status. On 1 February 1966 the recommendation was enacted, as the institution officially became Heriot-Watt University.
Heriot-Watt University
![Heriot-Watt Reception](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Heriot-Watt_Reception.jpg)
The first personal chair was appointed in 1974.
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.
In 1966 Midlothian County Council gifted the Riccarton estate north of
Currie
Currie ( gd, Currach, IPA: kʰuːᵲəx is a village and suburb on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland, situated south west of the city centre. Formerly within the County of Midlothian, it now falls within the jurisdiction of the City of Edi ...
to the university and in 1969 work began on transforming the site into a future campus.
The process of relocation to Riccarton continued until 1992, with teaching and facilities divided between the new campus and the city centre until this time.
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 the
Scottish Borders
The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...
in 1998, opening a campus in
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
in 2006
and a campus in
Putrajaya
Putrajaya (), officially the Federal Territory of Putrajaya ( ms, Wilayah Persekutuan Putrajaya), is a planned capital city which functions as the administrative capital and the judicial capital of Malaysia. The seat of the federal government ...
,
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
, in 2012.
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), Scotland's elite Oriam Sports Performance Centre facility (£33 million),
and the UK's first FlexBIO flexible downstream bioprocessing centre (£2 million). It is also constructing a 5,000m² Watt Innovation Building supporting Global Research, Innovation and Discovery
RID RID may refer to:
* Isaiah ben Mali di Trani (the Elder), an Italian Talmudist
* Radial immunodiffusion, a scientific technique for measuring the quantity of an antigen
* Radionuclide identification device, a hand-held instrument for the detecti ...
ref name="architectsjournal.co.uk"/> to boost 'creativity and ideas generation' on the university's growing Edinburgh campus.
GRID is a new ground-breaking facility to advance our global research, innovation and discovery. It has been designed to create cohesion between academic disciplines, industry partners and the global community, providing an innovative teaching and learning environment for mathematics, engineering, physical sciences and computer science students and staff. The university has plans to host a major £65 million film studio and a £2.5 million academic partnership with the oil and gas firm
Total
Total may refer to:
Mathematics
* Total, the summation of a set of numbers
* Total order, a partial order without incomparable pairs
* Total relation, which may also mean
** connected relation (a binary relation in which any two elements are comp ...
.
However, in 2017 it was also announced that a major budget shortfall and the impact of
Brexit
Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...
would result in Heriot-Watt shedding 100 jobs by voluntary redundancies.
Campuses
![The Loch, Heriot-Watt University - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/The_Loch%2C_Heriot-Watt_University_-_geograph.org.uk_-_25700.jpg)
Heriot-Watt currently has five campuses, and also runs distance learning programmes through 53 approved learning partners to students around the world.
Edinburgh
Heriot-Watt's main campus is located in
Riccarton Riccarton may refer to:
New Zealand
* Riccarton, New Zealand, a suburb of Christchurch
** Riccarton (New Zealand electorate), the electorate named after it
** The location of Riccarton Race Course
* a locality on the Taieri Plains in Otago
Scotlan ...
in South West Edinburgh on 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. It is also home to the
Edinburgh Conference Centre and Europe's oldest research park, Heriot-Watt University Research Park which opened in 1971.
[O'Farrell, P. N. (2004). Heriot Watt University: An Illustrated History. Pearson Education Limited. ] The university's Institute of Petroleum Engineering is based at its Edinburgh campus.
Scottish Borders
![Heriot Watt University Scottish Borders Campus - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Heriot_Watt_University_Scottish_Borders_Campus_-_geograph.org.uk_-_210840.jpg)
Heriot-Watt's Scottish Borders Campus in
Galashiels
Galashiels (; sco, Gallae, gd, An Geal Àth) is a town in the Scottish Borders with a population of around 12,600. Its name is often colloquially shortened to "Gala". The town is a major commercial centre for the Borders region with extensive ...
is home to the university's School of Textile and Design. 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 the Scottish 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.
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, produced a winner and five other finalists for the
Scottish Fashion Awards
The Scottish Fashion Awards was an annual awards ceremony honouring Scottish designers, photographers, models and fashion industry leaders. Founded in 2006, the event organiser was Tessa Hartmann, owner of a Scottish-based PR firm to promote her ...
Graduate of the Year in June 2012.
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, it has its own branch of the Student Union which runs events on the site and is home to a collection of textile records and artefacts. A new £12m student village opened at the Campus in September 2012.
The entire campus is shared with
Borders College
Borders College is a further education institution in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. Its main campus is located in Galashiels. Additionally, the college maintains secondary campuses at Hawick, Tweedbank and Newtown St. Boswells. The college w ...
, whose students make up the majority of those who study at the site.
Marillion
Marillion are a British rock music, rock band, formed in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in 1979. They emerged from the post-punk music scene in Britain and existed as a bridge between the styles of punk rock and classic progressive rock, becomin ...
's 1985 song Kayleigh was inspired by an SCT student, and refers to the snow and college halls of Galashiels.
Dubai
Heriot-Watt' s Dubai Campus opened in 2005. It was the first British university to set up in Dubai International Academic City.
Offering a range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses similar to those found in Scotland, the Campus facilitates student exchanges between Britain and the Emirates. It has facilities including a library, catering, computer access and shops. An expanded campus opened in the city in November 2011, allowing double the number of students to study for a Heriot-Watt degree in the city.
In April 2019, Heriot-Watt's Dubai campus was crowned 'Best University' in the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
at the first ever
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
Middle East Higher Education Awards.
The campus received a five-star rating for three consecutive years in 2019, 2020 and 2021 from the
Knowledge and Human Development Authority
The Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) is the educational quality assurance and regulatory authority of the Government of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It oversees the private education sector in Dubai, including early childhood edu ...
(KHDA), the supreme educational quality assurance and regulatory authority of the
Government of Dubai The Government of Dubai ( ar, حكومة دبي) is the subnational authority that governs the Emirate of Dubai, one of the seven constituent monarchies which make up the United Arab Emirates. The executive authority and head of the government is th ...
.
Malaysia
Heriot-Watt University Malaysia's purpose-built campus opened in
Putrajaya
Putrajaya (), officially the Federal Territory of Putrajaya ( ms, Wilayah Persekutuan Putrajaya), is a planned capital city which functions as the administrative capital and the judicial capital of Malaysia. The seat of the federal government ...
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 of offering undergraduate as well as master's degree.
Orkney
Heriot-Watt's campus in
Stromness
Stromness (, non, Straumnes; nrn, Stromnes) is the second-most populous town in Orkney, Scotland. It is in the southwestern part of Mainland Orkney. It is a burgh with a parish around the outside with the town of Stromness as its capital.
E ...
,
Orkney
Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...
, 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.
Organisation
Heriot-Watt is divided into six schools and one institute that coordinate its teaching and research:
* The School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society, incorporating geoenergy engineering and renewable energy technology, architectural engineering, civil & structural engineering, construction management & surveying, geography and urban studies
* The School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, incorporating chemical engineering, chemistry, electrical, electronic and computing engineering, mechanical engineering and physics
*The School of Social Sciences (formerly, School of Management and Languages), incorporating accountancy and finance, business management, economics and languages
*The School of Mathematical and Computer Sciences, incorporating
actuarial mathematics and statistics,
computer science
Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...
and
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
*The School of Textiles and Design
*
Edinburgh Business School
Edinburgh Business School (EBS) is the Graduate School of Business of Heriot-Watt University (est. 1821), Edinburgh, Scotland. Heriot-Watt University awards degrees by royal charter. Heriot-Watt University was ranked as the 3rd best British u ...
, which offers postgraduate courses at MBA, MSc and DBA level
*
The Urban Institute
The Urban Institute based in Edinburgh, Scotland is a collaboration of researchers at Heriot-Watt University and the University of Edinburgh on urban issues. It was founded in 2016 under the leadership of professor Dr. Mark Stephens. The institut ...
, a research collaboration for urban studies between Heriot-Watt University and The
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
From 1 August 2016, the former School 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.
Academic profile
Rankings and reputation
Heriot-Watt University was named International University of the Year
by ''The Times'' and ''Sunday 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.
[The Sunday Times University Guide 2012, 11-09-2011. Leonard, Sue, "Full steam ahead for Heriot-Watt", London.]
In 2011, Heriot-Watt was named as ''
The Sunday Times
''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...
'' Scottish University of the Year 2011–2012, with the paper emphasising the employability of the institution's graduates.
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. The same year it came 1st in Scotland and 4th in the UK in the 2012
National Student Survey The National Student Survey is an annual survey, launched in 2005, of all final year undergraduate degree students at institutions in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom. The survey is designed to assess undergrad ...
.
''Times Higher Education''s 'Table of Tables' is the combined results of the three main UK university league tables - the ''Good University Guide'' (published by ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times''), ''The Guardian'' and ''The 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 by ''The Complete University Guide 2018'' and 26th in the UK by ''The Guardian'' University League Table 2018.
In a 2015 detail report on UK universities,
Durham Durham most commonly refers to:
*Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham
*County Durham, an English county
*Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States
*Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...
academic Vikki Boliver placed Oxford and Cambridge in the first tier, and included Heriot-Watt in the second tier made of the remaining 22
Russell Group universities
The Russell Group is a self-selected association of twenty-four public research universities in the United Kingdom. The group is headquartered in Cambridge and was established in 1994 to represent its members' interests, principally to governmen ...
and 17 other "pre-92" universities.
In 2020, Heriot-Watt was ranked at 314 by ''
QS World University Rankings
''QS World University Rankings'' is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The QS system comprises three parts: the global overall ranking, the subject rankings (which name the world's top universities for the ...
'' and at 251-300 by ''
Times Higher Education World University Rankings
The ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'' (often referred to as the THE Rankings) is an annual publication of university rankings by the ''Times Higher Education'' (THE) magazine. The publisher had collaborated with Quacquarelli ...
'' in the world. It was ranked 243rd in the world for engineering and technology by QS Rankings in 2019. It was ranked 143rd in the world for technical sciences in 2018 by
Round University Ranking
Round University Ranking (RUR Ranking) is a Moscow, Russia-based world university ranking, assessing effectiveness of 700 leading world universities based on 20 indicators distributed among 4 key dimension areas: teaching, research, international ...
.
In 2017, ''
Business Insider
''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...
'' ranked Heriot-Watt the 3rd best UK university to study economics. It was ranked among 201-250 globally for Business and Economics by Times in 2019. In 2018, ''
ARWU
The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong University ...
'' ranked Heriot-Watt globally among 51-75 for Telecom Engineering and 101-150 for Civil Engineering, Mathematics and Oceanography.
Nationally, the university is ranked highly for
Planning
Planning is the process of thinking regarding the activities required to achieve a desired goal. Planning is based on foresight, the fundamental capacity for mental time travel. The evolution of forethought, the capacity to think ahead, is consi ...
and Building education. In 2019, the university was ranked 4th in UK and 1st in Scotland for Town & Country Planning and Landscape Design by ''The Complete University Guide''.
It was also ranked 9th in UK and 1st in Scotland for Building and Town & Country Planning by ''The Guardian'' in the same year. In the 2019 ''The Complete University Guide'' national subject rankings Heriot-Watt had the following rankings: 2nd (of 34) - Building education,
17th (of 104) - Accounting and Finance, 15th (of 81) - Art and Design, 14th (of 30) - Chemical Engineering, 23rd (of 60) - Chemistry, 1 (of 56) - Civil Engineering, 25th (of 110) - Computer Science, 22nd (of 77) - Economics, 23rd (of 68) - Electrical Engineering,
15th (of 72) - Mathematics, 14th (of 69) - Mechanical Engineering, and 25th (of 48) - Physics and Astronomy.
The university has been constantly ranked among the top 10 universities in UK for Building education since 2010.
Admissions
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.
Masters in Strategic Project Management
Under the framework of the European Education system and as part of the
Erasmus Mundus
The European Union's Erasmus Mundus programme (named after Erasmus, the Renaissance scholar) aims to enhance quality in higher education through scholarships and academic co-operation between the EU and the rest of the world. The three main objecti ...
program Heriot-Watt University offers a Masters in Strategic Project Management jointly with
Politecnico di Milano
The Polytechnic University of Milan () is the largest technical university in Italy, with about 42,000 students.
The university offers undergraduate, graduate and higher education courses in engineering, architecture and design.
Founded in 186 ...
(
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
) and
Umeå University
Umeå University ( sv, Umeå universitet; Ume Sami: ) is a public research university located in Umeå, in the mid-northern region of Sweden. The university was founded in 1965 and is the fifth oldest within Sweden's present borders.
As of 2015 ...
(
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
). 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 the
Eduniversal Eduniversal is a university ranking business by the French consulting company and rating agency ''SMBG'' specialized in Higher Education. Founded in 1994, one of the main goals of Eduniversal is to provide a tool, for students all around the world, ...
Bests Masters Ranking and number 25 in the
QS World University Rankings
''QS World University Rankings'' is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The QS system comprises three parts: the global overall ranking, the subject rankings (which name the world's top universities for the ...
worldwide.
Student life
Student Union
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, and is a member of both the Edinburgh Students' Forum and the National Union of Students (NUS). 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 charity
beer festival
A beer festival is an event at which a variety of beers are available for purchase. There may be a theme, for instance beers from a particular area, or a particular brewing style such as winter ales.
Asia
* Singapore holds an annual Beer Festiva ...
. In addition, the Student Union runs several services at the Edinburgh and Scottish Borders campuses including catering facilities, a nightclub, an advice centre and a student shop. The Student Union also works closely with the Heriot-Watt University Dubai Student Council and the Heriot-Watt University Malaysia Student Association. 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.
Sports Union
The Sports Union is responsible for the university's 30 sports clubs. and runs annual social events for students involved in sport. As with the Students' Association, the organisation is headed by elected Heriot-Watt students.
Notable alumni
Arts
![Irvine Welsh 2004](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Irvine_Welsh_2004.jpg)
*
Theodore S. Clerk
Theodore Shealtiel Clerk, (4 September 1909 – 1965) was an urban planner on the Gold Coast and the first formally trained, professionally certified Ghanaian architect. Attaining a few historic firsts in his lifetime, Theodore Clerk became th ...
, (1909–1965), city planner, first Ghanaian architect and developer of the port city of
Tema
Tema is a city on the Bight of Benin and Atlantic coast of Ghana. It is located east of the capital city; Accra, in the region of Greater Accra, and is the capital of the Tema Metropolitan District. As of 2013, Tema is the eleventh most popul ...
* Sir
James Dunbar-Nasmith
Sir James Duncan Dunbar-Nasmith (born 15 March 1927) is a British conservation architect.
He was born in Devon,''England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916-2007'' the son of Admiral Sir Martin Dunbar-Nasmith, (1883–1965) and Be ...
(born 1927), conservation architect and head of ECA's Department of Architecture 1978–1988
* Sir
Nicholas Grimshaw
Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, CBE, PPRA (born 9 October 1939) is a prominent English architect, particularly noted for several modernist buildings, including London's Waterloo International railway station and the Eden Project in Cornwall. He was Pre ...
(born 1939), architect of the
Eden Project
The Eden Project ( kw, Edenva) is a visitor attraction in Cornwall, England, UK. The project is located in a reclaimed china clay pit, located from the town of St Blazey and from the larger town of St Austell.Ordnance Survey (2005). ''OS E ...
, president of the
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...
since 2004
*
Sir William Kininmonth (1904–1988), architect of Adam House and
Pollock Halls
Pollock Halls of Residence is the largest halls of residence for the University of Edinburgh, located in St Leonard's, Edinburgh, Scotland, near the foot of Arthur's Seat. The complex of buildings houses more than 2,000 undergraduate students ...
, both in Edinburgh
*
Kygo
Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll (born 11 September 1991), known professionally as Kygo (), is a Norwegian DJ and music producer. He garnered international attention with his December 2013 remix of the track "I See Fire" by Ed Sheeran and his December 201 ...
, Norwegian DJ and record producer
* Sir
Robert Matthew
Sir Robert Hogg Matthew, OBE FRIBA FRSE (12 December 1906 – 2 June 1975) was a Scottish architect and a leading proponent of modernism.
Early life & studies
Robert Matthew was the son of John Fraser Matthew (1875–1955) (also an archite ...
(1906–1975), designed the
Royal Commonwealth Pool
The Royal Commonwealth Pool is a listed building#Scotland, category-A-listed building in St Leonard's, Edinburgh, St Leonard's, Edinburgh, Scotland that houses one of Scotland's main swimming pools. It is usually referred to simply as the Commonw ...
and founded
RMJM
RMJM (Robert Matthew Johnson Marshall) is one of the largest architecture and design networks in the world. Services include architecture, development management, engineering, interior design, landscape design, lead consultancy, master planning, ...
*
John McAslan
John Renwick McAslan (born 16 February 1954) is a British architect.
Education and career
John McAslan was educated at Dunoon Grammar School, Dollar Academy and University of Edinburgh, Scotland, obtaining an MA in Architecture in 1977 and a ...
, architect
*
Taqi Nazeer, Scottish born actor
*
Patrick Nuttgens
Patrick John Nuttgens CBE (2 March 1930 – 15 March 2004) was an influential English architect and academic.
Early life
Nuttgens was born in Whiteleaf, Buckinghamshire, the fourth of five children to Kathleen Mary (''née'' Clarke) an Iri ...
(1930–2004), academic and writer on architecture
*
Nivetha Pethuraj
Nivetha Pethuraj (born 30 November 1990) is an Indian actress and model who appears in Telugu and Tamil films. She made her acting debut with ''Oru Naal Koothu'' (2016). Her successful films include ''Podhuvaga En Manasu Thangam'' (2017)'', Men ...
, Indian actress
* Dame
Muriel Spark
Dame Muriel Sarah Spark (née Camberg; 1 February 1918 – 13 April 2006). was a Scottish novelist, short story writer, poet and essayist.
Life
Muriel Camberg was born in the Bruntsfield area of Edinburgh, the daughter of Bernard Camberg, an ...
, British writer (took a course in
commercial correspondence and
précis
Précis () or precis may refer to:
*an abridgement or summary
**Critical précis, a type of written text
** IRAC case brief, in law
* ''Précis'' (album), a 2006 music album
* ''Precis'' (butterfly), a genus of butterflies
*Mitsubishi Precis, a ma ...
writing at Heriot-Watt College)
* Sir
Basil Spence
Sir Basil Urwin Spence, (13 August 1907 – 19 November 1976) was a Scottish architect, most notably associated with Coventry Cathedral in England and the Beehive in New Zealand, but also responsible for numerous other buildings in the Moderni ...
(1907–1976), architect of
Coventry Cathedral
The Cathedral Church of Saint Michael, commonly known as Coventry Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry within the Church of England. The cathedral is located in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The curren ...
and the
New Zealand Parliament Building
New Zealand Parliament Buildings ( mi, Ngā whare Paremata) house the New Zealand Parliament and are on a 45,000 square metre site at the northern end of Lambton Quay, Wellington. They consist of the Edwardian neoclassical-style Parliament Ho ...
(nicknamed 'The Beehive') in Wellington, New Zealand
*
Douglas Stuart, British writer, fashion designer, winner of
2020 Booker Prize
The 2020 Booker Prize for Fiction was announced on 19 November 2020. The Booker longlist of 13 books was announced on 27 July, and was narrowed down to a shortlist of six on 15 September. The Prize was awarded to Douglas Stuart for his debut nove ...
*
John Thomson, pioneering photographer
*
Deepak Tripathi
Deepak Tripathi, PhD, FRHistS, FRAS (born 1951) is a British historian with particular reference to South Asia, the Middle East, the Cold War and the United States in the post-Soviet world.
Life and career
Tripathi's grandfather, Pandit Vishwa ...
, historian and former journalist
*
Irvine Welsh
Irvine Welsh (born 27 September 1958) is a Scottish novelist, playwright and short story writer. His 1993 novel '' Trainspotting'' was made into a film of the same name. He has also written plays and screenplays, and directed several short fil ...
, British writer of the novel ''
Trainspotting
Trainspotting may refer to:
* Trainspotting (hobby), an amateur interest in railways/railroads
* ''Trainspotting'' (novel), a 1993 novel by Irvine Welsh
** ''Trainspotting'' (film), a 1996 film based on the novel
*** ''Trainspotting'' (soundtr ...
''
*
Greg Wise
Matthew Gregory Wise, born 1966, is an English actor and producer. He has appeared in several British television programmes and feature films. He played the role of John Willoughby in ''Sense and Sensibility'', which also starred Emma Thompson, ...
, British actor and producer
*
Joanne Yeoh, Malaysian violinist and music lecturer at
Universiti Putra Malaysia
University of Putra Malaysia ( Malay: ''Universiti Putra Malaysia''), abbreviated as UPM, is a Malaysian public research university located in Serdang, Selangor. Formerly it was named Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (Agricultural University of ...
*
Gary Younge
Gary Andrew Younge , (born January 1969) is a British journalist, author, broadcaster and academic. He was editor-at-large for ''The Guardian'' newspaper, which he joined in 1993. In November 2019, it was announced that Younge had been appointe ...
, writer and journalist
Academia and science
![James Hall Nasmyth by George Bernard O'Neill](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/James_Hall_Nasmyth_by_George_Bernard_O%27Neill.jpg)
*
Le Hai An (1971–2019), Deputy Minister of Education and Training of Vietnam and rector of
Hanoi University of Mining and Geology
Hanoi University of Mining and Geology (HUMG, vi, Trường Đại học Mỏ - Địa chất Hà Nội) is a university in the Bắc Từ Liêm district of Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. It trains technical experts in exploration and exploitat ...
*
Iain Baikie, physicist, winner of
Swan Medal and Prize
The Katharine Burr Blodgett Medal and Prize is a gold medal awarded annually by the Institute of Physics to "recognise contributions to the organisation or application of physics in an industrial or commercial context." The medal is accompanied b ...
*
Christina Miller
Christina Cruikshank Miller FRSE (29 August 1899 – 16 July 2001) was a Scottish chemist and one of the first five women (also the first female chemist) elected to the Royal Society of Edinburgh (7 March 1949). Christina Miller was deaf from chil ...
, chemist
*
David A. B. Miller, applied physicist; winner of
R. W. Wood Prize The R. W. Wood Prize is an award endowed by Xerox and given by The Optical Society to an individual that makes an outstanding technical contribution or an invention in the field of optics. The award was established in 1975 in commemoration of Robert ...
and
Adolph Lomb Medal The Adolph Lomb Medal, awarded by the Optical Society is a prize for young scientists (age 35 or younger) for their contributions to optics. It is named after Adolph Lomb, treasurer of the Optical Society of America from its founding until his deat ...
*
James Nasmyth
James Hall Nasmyth (sometimes spelled Naesmyth, Nasmith, or Nesmyth) (19 August 1808 – 7 May 1890) was a Scottish engineer, philosopher, artist and inventor famous for his development of the steam hammer. He was the co-founder of Nasmyth, ...
, inventor of the
steam hammer
A steam hammer, also called a drop hammer, is an industrial power hammer driven by steam that is used for tasks such as shaping forgings and driving piles. Typically the hammer is attached to a piston that slides within a fixed cylinder, but i ...
*
Evelyn Roxburgh (1896–1973), electrical engineer
*
Sarah Tabrizi
Sarah Joanna Tabrizi FMedSci is a British neurology, neurologist and neuroscientist in the field of neurodegeneration, particularly Huntington's disease. She is a Professor and Joint Head of the Department of Neurodegenerative Diseases at the UC ...
, neurologist
*
Chris Whitty
Sir Christopher John MacRae Whitty (born 21 April 1966) is a British epidemiologist serving as Chief Medical Officer for England (CMO) and Chief Medical Adviser to the UK Government since 2019. He has also been Gresham Professor of Physic sinc ...
, physician; Chief Medical Advisor to the UK Government
Business
![Adam Crozier at Nations & Regions Media Conference](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Adam_Crozier_at_Nations_%26_Regions_Media_Conference.jpg)
*
Robert Buchan, British/Canadian businessman, founder of
Kinross Gold Corporation Kinross Gold Corporation is a Canadian-based gold and silver mining company founded in 1993 and headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Kinross currently operates six active gold mines, and was ranked fifth of the "10 Top Gold-mining Companies" o ...
*
Adam Crozier
Adam Alexander Crozier (born 26 January 1964) is a Scottish businessman, and was formerly the chief executive officer of media company ITV plc, operator of the ITV television network covering most of the United Kingdom.
After a career at Saatch ...
, British businessman, chief executive and television executives; Chief Executive of
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
*
Roger Jenkins, British financier, former Chief Executive of Barclays Private Equity, Principal Investments and Structured Capital Markets
*
Bob Keiller
Robert Keiller CBE (born 29 January 1964) is a British businessman. He is the former chief executive of Wood Group, a British multinational oil and gas services company headquartered in Aberdeen, Scotland. In 2016, he became chairman of Scotland' ...
, British businessman, Chief Executive of
Wood Group
John Wood Group plc, commonly known as Wood, is a British multinational engineering and consulting business with headquarters in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange as well as being a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. ...
*
Michael Lombardi, Canadian businessman, founder of
Lombardi Media Corporation
Lombardi Media Corporation is a holding company that owns a group of businesses concentrated in publishing, digital media, customer contact services, consumer goods, direct marketing
Direct marketing is a form of communicating an offer, ...
*
Ian Ritchie, British businessman, founder of
OWL
Owls are birds from the order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly solitary and nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vision, binaural hearing, sharp talons, and feathers a ...
, missed
WWW
The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet.
Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web se ...
opportunity of
Tim Berners-Lee
Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee (born 8 June 1955), also known as TimBL, is an English computer scientist best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web. He is a Professorial Fellow of Computer Science at the University of Oxford and a profess ...
*
Maurice Tulloch
Maurice Tulloch (born March 1969) is a British/Canadian businessman, who was the chief executive officer (CEO) of Aviva from March 2019 to July 2020.
Early life
Tulloch was born in March 1969 in Falkirk, Scotland. He has dual British and Cana ...
(born 1969), British/Canadian businessman, CEO of
Aviva
Aviva plc is a British multinational insurance company headquartered in London, England. It has about 18 million customers across its core markets of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada. In the United Kingdom, Aviva is the largest general ...
*
Per Valebrokk, Norwegian editor and business man, partner of Storm Communications
Politics
*
Nathif Jama Adam
Nathif Jama Adam ( so, Nadiif Jaamac Aadan, ar, نظيف جامع آدم) is a Kenyan banker, writer and politician. He previously served as a Senior Vice President and the Head of the Sharjah Islamic Bank's Investments & International Banking D ...
, Somali banker and politician
*
Sarah Boyack
Sarah Herriot Boyack (born 16 May 1961) is a Scottish Labour politician who has served as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Lothian region since 2019, and previously from 2011 to 2016. She formerly represented the Edinburgh Cent ...
, former MSP and Minister for Transport of Scotland
*
Ingvald Godal
Ingvald Godal (26 October 1934 – 28 January 2019) was a Norwegian politician for the Centre Party and later the Conservative Party. For the former party he was a State Secretary as well as mayor of Vinje; for the latter party he served four t ...
, former Member of the Norwegian Parliament and former Chairman of the Norwegian Support Committee for Chechnya
*
Bernie Grant
Bernard Alexander Montgomery Grant (17 February 1944 – 8 April 2000) was a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Tottenham, London, from 1987 to his death in 2000.
Biography
Bernie Grant was born in Georgetow ...
, British Labour Party politician, the Member of Parliament for Tottenham from 1987 to 2000; Britain's first Afro-Caribbean MP (did not graduate)
*
Fiona Hyslop
Fiona Jane Hyslop (born 1 August 1964) is a Scottish politician who served as Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture from 2020 to 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been a Member of the Scottish Parliamen ...
MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs in the
Scottish Government
*
Hassan Ali Khaire
Hassan Ali Khaire (or alternatively transliterated as Hassan Ali Khayre, so, Xasan Cali Khayre, ar, حسن علي خيري; born 1967), popularly known as Hassan Khaire, is a Somali activist and politician and is the former Prime Minister of ...
, Somali politician,
Prime Minister of Somalia
This is a list of prime ministers of Somalia. The prime minister of Somalia ( so, Ra'iisul wasaaraha Soomaaliya) is the head of government of Somalia. There have been 22 official prime ministers since the office was created in 1956. The first p ...
*
Archy Kirkwood
Archibald Johnstone Kirkwood, Baron Kirkwood of Kirkhope, (born 22 April 1946) is a British Liberal Democrats (UK), Liberal Democrat politician.
Education
Kirkwood was educated at Cranhill Secondary School in Cranhill, Glasgow and studied phar ...
, Baron Kirkwood of Kirkhope, former
Liberal Democrat
Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology.
Active parties
Former parties ...
MP
*
Mark MacGregor, Conservative Party politician
*
Gillian Mackay
Gillian Audrey Mackay (born 1991) is a Scottish Green politician who has served as a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Central Scotland region since the 2021 Scottish Parliament election. She is the first Green MSP ever to be ele ...
,
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
MSP for
Central Scotland
*
Henry McLeish
Henry Baird McLeish (born 15 June 1948) is a Scottish politician, author and academic who served as First Minister of Scotland and Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland from 2000 to 2001. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Central Fife from ...
, former
First Minister of Scotland
The first minister of Scotland ( sco, heid meinister o Scotland; gd, prìomh mhinistear na h-Alba ) is the head of the Scottish Government and keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland. The first minister chairs ...
*
Brian Monteith
Brian Monteith (born 8 January 1958) is a British politician, public relations consultant and commentator. As a member of the Scottish Conservatives, he was a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Mid Scotland and Fife region from 199 ...
, former Conservative MSP
*
Henning Skumsvoll
Henning Skumsvoll (born 15 March 1947 in Farsund) is a Norwegian politician representing the Progress Party. He is currently a representative of Vest-Agder in the '' Storting'', he was first elected in 2005. He was elected vice leader of the Ve ...
, member of the Norwegian Parliament
*
Teo Ho Pin
Teo Ho Pin ( zh, s=张俰宾, p=Zhāng Huòbīn; born 19 January 1960) is a Singaporean former politician who served as Mayor of North West District between 2001 and 2020.
A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), Teo was the Mem ...
, former member of the Singapore Parliament
*
Graham Watson
Sir Graham Robert Watson (born 23 March 1956) is a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for South West England from 1994 to 2014. Watson was the chairman of the Parliament's committee on ci ...
, former MEP; Leader of the European Parliament's Liberal Group 2002-2009 and president of the EU's Liberal Democratic Party 2011-15
*
Lord Mike Watson, Baron Watson of Invergowrie, former MP and MSP
Sports
*
Jock Clear, Formula One engineer
*
Keith "Swaz" Fraser, Olympic skier (graduated 1991 with MEng in Civil Engineering)
*
Lee Jones, current member of the
Scotland national rugby union team
The Scotland national rugby union team represents Scotland in men's international rugby union and is administered by the Scottish Rugby Union. The team takes part in the annual Six Nations Championship and participates in the Rugby World Cup, ...
*
Shirley Robertson
Shirley Ann Robertson, OBE DL (born 15 July 1968) is a British sailor and Olympic gold medallist. She made it into the history books by becoming the first British woman to win an Olympic gold medal at consecutive games, Sydney 2 ...
, TV presenter and double Olympic gold medallist
*
Jack Ross, British professional footballer
*
Gordon Shedden
Gordon Shedden (born 15 February 1979) is a Scottish auto racing driver, currently competing in the British Touring Car Championship
The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Ki ...
, British
auto racing
Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition.
Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...
driver
Other
*
Liam Burns,
NUS UK
The National Union of Students (NUS) is a confederation of student unions in the United Kingdom. Around 600 student unions are affiliated, accounting for more than 95% of all higher and further education unions in the UK. Although the National ...
president 2011–2013
*
Fiona Watson
Fiona Watson (1968 – 19 August 2003) was a Scotland, Scottish political affairs officer working in Sérgio Vieira de Mello's office who was killed along with other members of United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq staff in the Canal Hotel ...
, political affairs officer
Notable staff
* Sir
Thomas Hudson Beare
Sir Thomas Hudson Beare FRSE RSSA (30 June 1859 – 10 June 1940) was an eminent British engineer. He was successively Professor of Engineering at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, at University College, London (where he was a colleague of K ...
, FRSE, RSSA, chair of mechanics and engineering, 1887–1889
*
George Murray Burnett
Prof George Murray Burnett FRSE FRSA FRIC LLD (1921–1980) was a Scottish mathematician and chemist. He served as both Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University from 1974 until 1980. He is largely remembered for his work o ...
, FRSE (1921–1980), served as principal, 1974–1980
*
Andrew John Herbertson
Andrew John Herbertson FRSE FRGS FRMS (11 October 1865 – 15 July 1915) was a Scottish geographer.
Life
He was born in Galashiels, Selkirkshire to parents Andrew Hunter Herbertson and Janet Matthewson. He went to school locally at Galas ...
, lecturer in industrial and commercial geography, 1896–1899
*
Sir Geoff Palmer, OBE, grain scientist and human rights advocate, 1977–2005
Principals
* Sir
Francis Grant Ogilvie
Sir Francis Grant Ogilvie CB FRSE (8 August 1858 – 14 December 1930) was a Scottish educator, museum director, and scientist.
Birth, parentage and early career
Ogilvie was born in Monymusk, Aberdeenshire, the eldest son of the Reverend Al ...
, CB, FRSE, 1886–1900
*
Arthur Pillans Laurie
Prof Arthur Pillans Laurie FRSE LLD (1861 – 1949) was a Scottish chemist who pioneered the scientific analysis of paintings, especially by Rembrandt. He also was a fascist symapthiser who opposed the Second World War.
Early life
Laurie wa ...
, FRSE, 1900–1928
*
James Cameron Smail
Dr James Cameron Smail FRSE FRSGS PRSSA CBE LLD (1880-1970) was a Scottish university Principal. Heriot Watt University library is named the Cameron Smail Library in his honour. He wrote extensively on printing and the history of printing.
Life ...
, OBE, FRSE, 1928–1950
*
Hugh Bryan Nisbet
Prof Hugh Bryan Nisbet FRIC FRSE CBE DLit (1902–1969) was a Scottish chemist who served as the first Principal of Heriot-Watt University. He had a specialist knowledge of petroleum
Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a nat ...
, CBE, FRSE, 1950–1967
*
Robert Allan Smith
Dr Robert Allan Smith CBE FRS PRSE (14 May 1909 – 16 May 1980) was a British mathematician and physicist.S.D. Smith, Robert Allan Smith, Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, vol.28, 479-504, 1982.
Biography
Smith (known to h ...
, CBE, FRS, PRSE, 1968–1974
*
George Murray Burnett
Prof George Murray Burnett FRSE FRSA FRIC LLD (1921–1980) was a Scottish mathematician and chemist. He served as both Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University from 1974 until 1980. He is largely remembered for his work o ...
, FRSE, 1974–1980
*
Thomas Lothian Johnston, PRSE, 1981–1988
*
Sir Alistair George James MacFarlane, CBE, FRS, FRSE, 1989–1996
*
John Stuart Archer, CBE, FRSE, 1997–2006
*
Sir Vito Antonio Muscatelli, CBE, FRSE, 2007–2009
*
Steven Kenneth Chapman, CBE, FRSE, 2009–2015
*
Richard Andrew Williams, OBE, FRSE, 2015–present
See also
*
Armorial of UK universities
The armorial of British universities is the collection of coats of arms of universities in the United Kingdom. Modern arms of universities began appearing in England around the middle of the 15th century, with Oxford's being possibly the oldest ...
*
Edinburgh Business School
Edinburgh Business School (EBS) is the Graduate School of Business of Heriot-Watt University (est. 1821), Edinburgh, Scotland. Heriot-Watt University awards degrees by royal charter. Heriot-Watt University was ranked as the 3rd best British u ...
*
Heriot-Watt University F.C.
Heriot-Watt University Football Club is a football club based at Riccarton Campus, on the western fringes of Edinburgh. The club's first team plays in the . Home matches are played on a 3G synthetic pitch within the John Brydson Arena on the ...
*
List of UK universities
This is a list of universities in the United Kingdom (alphabetical by substantive name). Below that are lists of university colleges and other recognised bodies (institutions with degree awarding powers), followed by a list of defunct institution ...
Footnotes
References
External links
*
Heriot-Watt University Students UnionHeriot-Watt University DubaiHeriot-Watt University Malaysia
{{authority control
Educational institutions established in 1821
Universities in Scotland
1966 establishments in Scotland
Universities established in the 1960s
Universities UK