Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a
public 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 th ...
. 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, but ...
in 1966. It is the eighth-oldest higher education institute in the UK. The name Heriot-Watt was taken from Scottish inventor
James Watt and Scottish philanthropist and goldsmith
George Heriot.
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 in the likes of
Keele and
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) by Scottish businessman
Leonard Horner on 16 October 1821. Having been inspired by
Anderson's College 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 pop ...
, 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 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), Engli ...
and
Walter Scott. It first became associated with the inventor and engineer
James Watt 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 ...
said:
" he buildingshall 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 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, 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, 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 Chambers Street may refer to:
Streets
* Chambers Street (Edinburgh), a street in Edinburgh, Scotland
* Chambers Street (Manhattan), a street in New York City, New York, USA
New York City Subway stations
* Chambers Street (BMT Nassau Street Line) ...
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'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
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 List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, 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
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 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 ...
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, 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
RIDref 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 (EAE ...
would result in Heriot-Watt shedding 100 jobs by voluntary redundancies.
Campuses
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 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
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
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's Scottish Borders Campus in
Galashiels 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 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, 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 Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...
at the first ever
Forbes 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 (KHDA), the supreme educational quality assurance and regulatory authority of the
Government of Dubai.
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 practical disciplines (includin ...
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, 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
Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in ...
, a research collaboration for urban studies between Heriot-Watt University and The
University of Edinburgh
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'' 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.
''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 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 university, public research university, research universities in the United Kingdom. The group is headquartered in Cambridge and was established in 1994 to represent its memb ...
and 17 other "pre-92" universities.
In 2020, Heriot-Watt was ranked at 314 by ''
QS World University Rankings'' and at 251-300 by ''
Times Higher Education World University Rankings'' 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.
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 pub ...
'' 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'' 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 program Heriot-Watt University offers a Masters in Strategic Project Management jointly with
Politecnico di Milano (
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 ...
) and
Umeå University (
Sweden
Sweden, ; fi, Ruotsi; fit, Ruotti; se, Ruoŧŧa; smj, Svierik; sje, Sverji; sju, Sverje; sma, Sveerje or ; yi, שוועדן, Shvedn; rmu, Svedikko; rmf, Sveittiko. formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic cou ...
). 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 Bests Masters Ranking and number 25 in the
QS World University Rankings 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. 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
*
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
* Sir
James Dunbar-Nasmith (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, 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, both in Edinburgh
*
Kygo, Norwegian DJ and record producer
* Sir
Robert Matthew (1906–1975), designed the
Royal Commonwealth Pool
The Royal Commonwealth Pool is a category-A-listed building in St Leonard's, Edinburgh, Scotland that houses one of Scotland's main swimming pools. It is usually referred to simply as the Commonwealth Pool and known colloquially as the 'Commie' ...
and founded
RMJM
*
John McAslan, architect
*
Taqi Nazeer
Taqi Nazeer ( ;) is a Scottish born actor.
Early life
Nazeer was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. He attended George Heriot's School and went on to study at Heriot-Watt University, where he obtained a Master of Arts in Marketing. Soon after, Nazeer ...
, Scottish born actor
*
Patrick Nuttgens (1930–2004), academic and writer on architecture
*
Nivetha Pethuraj, Indian actress
* Dame
Muriel Spark, British writer (took a course in
commercial correspondence
A business letter is a letter from one company to another, or such organizations and their customers, clients, or other external parties. The overall style of letter depends on the relationship between the parties concerned. Business letters can ...
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 (1907–1976), architect of
Coventry Cathedral and the
New Zealand Parliament Building (nicknamed 'The Beehive') in Wellington, New Zealand
*
Douglas Stuart, British writer, fashion designer, winner of
2020 Booker Prize
*
John Thomson, pioneering photographer
*
Deepak Tripathi, historian and former journalist
*
Irvine Welsh, 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, British actor and producer
*
Joanne Yeoh
Joanne Yeoh Pei Sze () is a Malaysian violinist and currently a lecturer in music at Universiti Putra Malaysia
University of Putra Malaysia ( Malay: ''Universiti Putra Malaysia''), abbreviated as UPM, is a Malaysian public research unive ...
, Malaysian violinist and music lecturer at
Universiti Putra Malaysia
*
Gary Younge, writer and journalist
Academia and science
*
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 exploi ...
*
Iain Baikie
Iain Douglas Baikie, (born 27 August 1960) is a Scottish physicist, inventor and company Director. He specialises in Material Science. Baikie supervises PhDs at Imperial College London and the University of St Andrews in thin-film electronics. ...
, 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
David A. B. Miller is the W. M. Keck Foundation Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, where he is also a Professor of Applied Physics by courtesy. His research interests include the use of optics in switching, interconnectio ...
, 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
*
James 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
Mary Evelyn Roxburgh (10 October 1896 – 24 April 1973) is believed to have been the first woman electrical engineer in Scotland and government factory inspector in England.
Life
Evi Roxburgh was born into a family of lawyers in Edinburgh, Ed ...
(1896–1973), electrical engineer
*
Sarah Tabrizi
Sarah Joanna Tabrizi FMedSci is a British 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 UCL Institu ...
, neurologist
*
Chris Whitty, physician; Chief Medical Advisor to the UK Government
Business
*
Robert Buchan
Robert M Buchan is a Scottish-Canadian mining engineer, businessman and philanthropist. He founded Kinross Gold in 1993. It is now the 3rd-largest gold mining company in North America.
Brought up in Rosyth, Fife, Buchan graduated with a 1st class ...
, 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" ...
*
Adam Crozier, British businessman, chief executive and television executives; Chief Executive of
ITV
*
Roger Jenkins, British financier, former Chief Executive of Barclays Private Equity, Principal Investments and Structured Capital Markets
*
Bob Keiller, British businessman, Chief Executive of
Wood Group
*
Michael Lombardi, Canadian businessman, founder of
Lombardi Media Corporation
*
Ian Ritchie, British businessman, founder of
OWL, missed
WWW 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 (born 1969), British/Canadian businessman, CEO of
Aviva
*
Per Valebrokk
Per Valebrokk (born 1 February 1972) is a Norwegian newspaper editor.
He is the currently partner and senior advisor in the PR agency Storm Communication. He was previously editor-in-chief of ''E24 Næringsliv''. and of ''Varden'', and has also w ...
, Norwegian editor and business man, partner of Storm Communications
Politics
*
Nathif Jama Adam, Somali banker and politician
*
Sarah Boyack, former MSP and Minister for Transport of Scotland
*
Ingvald Godal, former Member of the Norwegian Parliament and former Chairman of the Norwegian Support Committee for Chechnya
*
Bernie Grant, 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 MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs in the
Scottish Government
*
Hassan Ali Khaire, Somali politician,
Prime Minister of Somalia
*
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 MP
*
Mark MacGregor
Mark MacGregor (born 25 February 1961) is a British Conservative Party politician and entrepreneur. He fought several parliamentary elections for the party, became chief executive of Conservative Central Office from 2002 to 2003 and then ran Stev ...
, Conservative Party politician
*
Gillian Mackay,
Green Party MSP for
Central Scotland
*
Henry McLeish, former
First Minister of Scotland
*
Brian Monteith, former Conservative MSP
*
Henning Skumsvoll, member of the Norwegian Parliament
*
Teo Ho Pin, former member of the Singapore Parliament
*
Graham Watson, 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
Jock Clear (born 12 September 1963)
24 February 2007. Retrieved 23 August 2009 is an English senior performance ...
, 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
*
Shirley Robertson, TV presenter and double Olympic gold medallist
*
Jack Ross, British professional footballer
*
Gordon Shedden, British
auto racing
Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primaril ...
driver
Other
*
Liam Burns
Liam Burns (born 30 October 1978) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who played as a centre-back.
He started his career in England with Port Vale, playing over 100 games in the English Football League for the club between 19 ...
,
NUS UK 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, 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 on ...
, 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, CB, FRSE, 1886–1900
*
Arthur Pillans Laurie, FRSE, 1900–1928
*
James Cameron Smail, 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, 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 on ...
, FRSE, 1974–1980
*
Thomas Lothian Johnston, PRSE, 1981–1988
*
Sir Alistair George James MacFarlane, CBE, FRS, FRSE, 1989–1996
*
John Stuart Archer
John Stuart Archer (15 June 1943 – 9 December 2007) was Vice-Chancellor and Principal of Heriot-Watt University from 1997 to 2006.
Life
Archer was born in London on 15 June 1943 and went to Chiswick County Grammar School.[ ...]
, 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
*
Edinburgh Business School
*
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
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