Aberdeen has been marking the early years of its sixth century with a series of ambitious projects.

Aided by one the most successful fundraising schemes at any UK university, it has been recruiting high-calibre academics and has transformed the student services.

Next on the list is a £23-million sports centre, due to open in 2009, and a futuristic new library planned for the following year.

The university built on a sharply improved performance in the last Research Assessment Exercise, when the number of internationally rated departments shot up from two to ten.

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The relatively small French department achieved the only 5* rating, but other top grades were divided among the university’s three colleges.

These successes, which have been accompanied by consistently good teaching grades, have brought record applications, although the demand for places has dipped slightly in the last two years. The university has boosted its external research funds so successfully that it is now in the top 20 in the UK on this measure.

Subjects

Only three subjects were rated less than Highly Satisfactory in the initial round of teaching inspections, and the pattern continued in the audits carried out in the early years of this decade. French, biology, sociology and community-based medicine have top ratings for both teaching and research.

Female students now outnumber the men, but Aberdeen still considers itself a “balanced” university because roughly half of its students study medicine, science or engineering, half the arts or social sciences. Most are not even admitted to a particular department, allowing them to try out three or four subjects before committing themselves at the end of their first or even second year.

The modular system, covering almost 600 first-degree programmes, is so flexible that the majority of students change their intended degree before graduation.

Medicine, law and divinity head Aberdeen’s traditional strengths – the university established the English-speaking world’s first chair in medicine and has produced its share of advances since. The Institute of Medical Sciences, which has brought together all Aberdeen’s work in this area, boasts state-of-the-art laboratory facilities.

Development

Another £16.5 million is being invested on the same site in a teaching and learning centre for anatomy and clinical skills. Biological sciences have developed considerably in recent years, becoming second only to the social sciences in terms of size. Biomedicine is particularly strong, and the university’s links with the oil industry show in geology’s high reputation.

The university is also the main centre for agriculture in Scotland and part of a new European network for the subject. Today’s university is a fusion of two ancient institutions which came together in 1860.

With King’s College dating back to 1495 and Marischal College following almost a century later, Aberdeen likes to boast that for 250 years it had as many universities as the whole of England. The original King’s College buildings are the focal point of an appealing campus, complete with cobbled main street and some sturdily handsome Georgian buildings, about a mile from the city centre.

Medicine is at Foresterhill, a 20-minute walk away, adjoining the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. Buses link the two sites with the Hillhead residential complex, and there is a free late-night service. The Aberdeen arm of Northern College has now joined the fold and moved to the main campus, restoring the university’s original involvement in teacher training, and forming its fifth faculty. More than a third of all students come from the north of Scotland, but taking one in ten from outside Britain ensures a cosmopolitan atmosphere.

Student scene

Students from England and the 120 nationalities from further afield are generally prepared for Aberdeen’s remote location and, although the winters are long, the climate is warmer than the uninitiated might expect. As the energy capital of Europe, transport links are good. Students find the city lively and welcoming but expensive, although its prosperity does provide a good selection of part-time jobs from the JobLink service.

Student facilities are good: there an NHS medical practice on campus and the new students’ centre – The Hub – brings together dining and retail outlets with support services, including the Students’ Association and Accommodation Office.

There is also a city centre bar and first-class sports facilities, which will be improved still further with the opening of the new sports centre, part-funded by Aberdeen City Council and Sports Scotland. The ICT network has over 1,000 computers for student use. The university’s residential stock has been growing and all new undergraduates are guaranteed a place.

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