The University of Edinburgh School of GeoSciences, is a school within the College of Science and Engineering, which was formed in 2002 by the merger of four departments.
The school was formed by the merger of the Institute of Ecology and Resource Management, Department of Geography, Department of Geology and Geophysics, and Institute for Meteorology. It is split between the

King's Buildings The King's Buildings (colloquially known as just King's or KB) is a campus of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Located in the suburb of Blackford, the site contains most of the schools within the College of Science and Engineering, ex ...

and the Central Area of the university. The institutes of Ecological Sciences and Earth Science are located at the King's Buildings, whilst the Institute of Geography is located on Drummond Street in the Central Area. In 2013 the department was ranked 8th best place to study geography in the country by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' University Rankings, down from 2nd in 2006. The school is ranked as one of the best in the UK for Earth Sciences. A 2008

Research Assessment Exercise The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) was an exercise undertaken approximately every five years on behalf of the four UK higher education funding councils (HEFCE, SHEFC, HEFCW, DELNI) to evaluate the quality of research undertaken by British hig ...

assessment ranked the "Earth Systems and Environmental Science" department as the best in the UK by number of world leading research and staff. Its Geography department was ranked 15th in the world according to the 2015 QS rankings. There are over 1100 undergraduate students and 250 postgraduate students in the School of GeoSciences. There are also around 100 research and teaching staff within the school. The School collaborates with the University of Edinburgh Business School and the School of Economics, to offer a Carbon Management MSc degree, the first in the world, which has students from over 20 countries. School of Business course overview, Accessed 2011-07-26 The school also has exchange programmes though the

Erasmus Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' w ...

programme, in addition to universities in Canada, the United States, Australia and New Zealand. The head of the School of GeoSciences is currently Professor Simon Kelley. Famous recent alumni of the School include former BP chief executive

Tony Hayward Anthony Bryan Hayward (born 21 May 1957) is a British businessman and former chief executive of oil and energy company BP. He replaced John Browne, Baron Browne of Madingley, on 1 May 2007. His tenure ended on 1 October 2010 when he was replac ...

. Former Rector of the university Peter McColl matriculated at one of the predecessors, the Department of Geography. Competition for entry is highly selective, in 2010, the School received 2221 applications, but only 275 offers were made, representing a 16.9% of an applicant receiving an offer. The school currently offers 11 undergraduate courses and a range of postgraduate degrees.

References

{{authority control Education in Edinburgh Schools of the University of Edinburgh Geography departments in the United Kingdom Geology organizations Ecology organizations Earth sciences organizations