Elmwood College

Scotland's Rural College (SRUC) is a public land based research institution focused on agriculture and life sciences. Its history stretches back to 1899 with the establishment of the West of Scotland Agricultural College and its current organisation came into being through a merger of smaller institutions.

After the West of Scotland Agricultural College was established in 1899, the Edinburgh and East of Scotland College of Agriculture and the Aberdeen and North of Scotland College of Agriculture were both established in the early 20th century. These three colleges were merged into a single institution, the Scottish Agricultural College, in 1990. In October 2012, the Scottish Agricultural College was merged with Barony College, Elmwood College and Oatridge College to re-organise the institution as Scotland's Rural College, initialised as SRUC in preparation for it gaining the status of a university college with degree awarding powers.

SRUC has six campuses across Scotland – Aberdeen, Ayr, Barony, Elmwood, King's Buildings and Oatridge. Students study land based courses from further education to postgraduate level and degrees are currently awarded by the University of Edinburgh or the University of Glasgow depending on the course of study. Undergraduates study over a period of three terms each year during their first two years and two semesters during their third and fourth years. In addition to higher education, SRUC has a consulting division, SAC Consulting, which works with clients in rural businesses and associated industries and it also has a research division which carries out research in the agriculture and rural sector.

SRUC has attracted notable botanists, chemists and agriculturists as lecturers and researchers and the institution has counted Henry Dyer, Victor Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow and Maitland Mackie amongst its academic staff. In addition to careers in agriculture and life sciences, the institution's alumni have gone on to have careers in politics, sport, the military and broadcasting – including Douglas Ross, current Leader of the Scottish Conservative Party, and Alex Fergusson, former Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament.

History

Scottish Agricultural College

In 1899, Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College's agriculture department amalgamated with the Scottish Dairy Institute to form the West of Scotland Agricultural College. Originally based in Blythswood Square, Glasgow, the institution began moving to Ayrshire when in 1927 the Auchincruive estate in the parish of St Quivox near Ayr was left to the college by the late John Hannah of Girvan Mains. In 1974, the Blythswood Square site was closed.

The Edinburgh and East of Scotland College of Agriculture was formed in 1901 and carried out experimental work in agriculture and animal breeding in south-east Scotland. Academic Robert Wallace helped found the college, having set up the bachelor's degree programme in agriculture during his time as a professor at the University of Edinburgh. Its main premises were in George Square, Edinburgh, and these were expanded in 1904 to a design by Thomas Purves Marwick architects. The college also had experimental grounds at Pinkie Hill Farm, Inveresk. In 1913, the college and the University of Edinburgh formed the joint committee on research in animal breeding which would research genetics.

The Aberdeen and North of Scotland College of Agriculture began in 1904 through grants from benefactors including the University of Aberdeen. Initially classes were delivered at Marischal College and these were then delivered at 581 King Street after 1969. Classes were then moved to a new teaching campus at the Craibstone Estate established in 1999, a site which the college had purchased in 1914 for research and fieldwork. Nutritional physiologist John Boyd Orr, later a president of the National Peace Council and winner of the 1949 Nobel Peace Prize, ran the institution's joint committee for research into animal nutrition with the University of Aberdeen.

As technical colleges to transfer the growing scientific knowledge of agricultural issues to farmers and the general public, the three Scottish agricultural colleges were among ten central institutions noted in 1906 as providing technical instruction and sound scientific instruction meeting the "continuation class code" set of regulations drawn up in 1901.

The company Scottish Agricultural Colleges was established in 1987 to provide direct management of advisory and veterinary functions of the regional colleges. In 1990, the West of Scotland Agricultural College was merged with the East of Scotland College of Agriculture and the North of Scotland College of Agriculture into the Scottish Agricultural College, a single higher education and resea