Education in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

has a strong tradition with two Universities and Scotland's largest further education college.

Universities

The first of Aberdeen's two universities, King's College, was founded in 1495 by

William Elphinstone William Elphinstone (143125 October 1514) was a Scottish statesman, Bishop of Aberdeen and founder of the University of Aberdeen. Biography He was born in Glasgow. His father, also William Elphinstone, later became the first Dean of the Fa ...

(1431–1514),

Bishop of Aberdeen The Bishop of Aberdeen (originally Bishop of Mortlach, in Latin Murthlacum) was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Aberdeen, one of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics, whose first recorded bishop is an early 12th-century cleric named Nec ...

and Chancellor of Scotland.

Marischal College Marischal College ( ) is a large granite building on Broad Street in the centre of Aberdeen in north-east Scotland, and since 2011 has acted as the headquarters of Aberdeen City Council. However, the building was constructed for and is on long- ...

was founded in New Aberdeen by

George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal (c. 1553–1623) was a Scottish nobleman and Earl Marischal. He succeeded as earl on 7 October 1581, upon the death of his grandfather, William Keith, 4th Earl Marischal. Early life George Keith was the s ...

in 1593. These foundations were amalgamated to form the present

University of Aberdeen , mottoeng = The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , established = , type = Public research universityAncient university , endowment = £58.4 million (2021) , budget ...

in 1860. King's and Marischal were Scotland's third and fifth oldest universities respectively. Robert Gordon's College (originally Robert Gordon's Hospital) was founded in 1729 by the merchant Robert Gordon, grandson of the map maker Robert Gordon of Straloch, and was further endowed in 1816 by Alexander Simpson of Collyhill. Originally devoted to the instruction and maintenance of the sons of poor burgesses of guild and trade in the city, it was reorganized in 1881 as a day and night school for secondary and technical education, and in the 1990s became co-educational and a day-only school. It also produced the Robert Gordon Institute of Technology, which in 1992 became the Robert Gordon University.

Art and Architecture schools

Gray's School of Art Gray's School of Art is the Robert Gordon University's art school, located in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is one of the oldest established fine art institutions in Scotland and one of Scotland's five art schools today, and ranked among the Top 20 ...

, founded in 1886, is one of the oldest established colleges of art in the UK. It is situated in grounds at Garthdee on the edge of the city. It is now incorporated into Robert Gordon University. The Scott Sutherland School of Architecture and The Built Environment (previously the Scott Sutherland School of Architecture; The Scott Sutherland School of Art Architecture and Design) is situated on the Garthdee Campus of the Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, next to Gray's School of Art. Among other full-time and part-time courses; the School runs the a BSc Honours course in Architectural Studies and MArch masters in Architectural Studies. It also has a student-led lecture society and sponsored lecture series called 5710, creating a link between architectural practice and architectural education.

Colleges

North East Scotland College North East Scotland College (abbreviated as NESCol) was formed on 1 November 2013 from the merger of Aberdeen College and Banff & Buchan College. The regional college serves an extensive geographical area with its main centres in Aberdeen and ...

has several campuses in Aberdeen and offers part-time and full-time courses leading to several different qualifications. It replaced

Aberdeen College {{Use British English, date=March 2018 Aberdeen College was one of the largest further education colleges in Scotland. It was formed from the amalgamation of the former Aberdeen Technical College, Aberdeen College of Commerce and Clinterty Agri ...

which was the largest further education institution in Scotland. Northern College was a teacher training college with campuses in Aberdeen and Dundee. In 2000, the Aberdeen campus of Northern College became the

School of Education. In 2006 the Hilton Campus of Northern College in Aberdeen was sold for housing development and demolished.

State schools

There are currently 12 secondary schools and 54 primary schools which are run by the city council. The most notable are

Cults Academy Cults Academy is an Aberdeen City Council secondary school in Cults, Aberdeen, Scotland. It was the recipient of The Sunday Times Scottish State Secondary School of the Year Award 2008 because of its outstanding exam results that year, having been ...

Oldmachar Academy Oldmachar Academy is situated in Bridge of Don in the north of Aberdeen in an area of private housing. It is a six-year comprehensive, non-denominational school which opened to pupils in August 1982 (April 1983 on its present site). In 2004 it w ...

and

Aberdeen Grammar School Aberdeen Grammar School is a state secondary school in Aberdeen, Scotland. It is one of thirteen secondary schools run by the Aberdeen City Council educational department. It is the oldest school in the city and one of the oldest grammar school ...

which are all rated in the top 20 Scottish secondary schools league tables. Historically, the most famous of Aberdeen's schools is

, (now a comprehensive). Founded in 1263 it is one of the oldest schools in Britain, and is set in a Scottish baronial style building. It is celebrated as the school of

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...

Private schools

There are a number of private schools in Aberdeen;

Albyn School Albyn School is a coeducational independent day school, founded in 1867 in Aberdeen, Scotland. Albyn was originally an all-girls school before becoming co-educational in 2005. The school has a nursery, primary school and secondary school; pupi ...

for Girls (co-ed as of 2006), St Margaret's School for Girls, the Hamilton School, Robert Gordon's College, the

Total S.A. TotalEnergies SE is a French multinational integrated energy and petroleum company founded in 1924 and one of the seven supermajor oil companies. Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas exploration and ...

French School (for French oil industry families) and the

International School of Aberdeen The International School of Aberdeen (ISA) is a school in Pitfodels, Cults, Aberdeen, Scotland. It takes in students that come from other countries besides the UK, although British students are allowed to attend the school. It was formerly kn ...

. Following investigations by the police and the care commission in 2014, both the Hamilton school and the Waldorf school closed. Public sector schooling was made available for the displaced pupils.

Universities

Art and Architecture schools

Colleges

State schools

Private schools

References

See also