university of Aberdeen, details of Aberdeen university

  

Aberdeen

University ranking

• 2010  47
• 2009  39
• 2008  33

History

• Scotland's third oldest university, founded in 1495.
• First chair of medicine in the English-speaking world.
• Four Nobel prizes have been awarded for work begun or carried out at Aberdeen.

Location and Transport

• Aberdeen is an attractive, cosmopolitan city of 220,000, with first-class sport and leisure facilities, and a vibrant nightlife.
• There is easy access to nearby hills and countryside, and Aberdeen itself has miles of golden sandy beaches.
• Communication and travel links are excellent, and detailed information on travelling to Aberdeen can be found here.

Accommodation

• Guaranteed accommodation for new students, with a variety of halls of residence to choose from.
• Wireless internet access in halls of residence planned from September 2007.
• For up-to-date information on university accommodation, including costs, visit the website. 

Entry standards

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•     Full details of our entry requirements can be found on our online prospectus.

Bursaries and scholarships

• There are no variable tuition fees in Scotland. Fees for 2010–11 have not yet been confirmed. If you are a Scottish-domiciled first degree student you are eligible for your tuition fees to be covered by the Scottish Government. Scottish students should apply to the SAAS to cover this cost. Students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland should apply for a fee loan to Student Finance England, Student Finance Wales, and Student Finance Northern Ireland as appropriate. Students from elsewhere in the EU should contact the SAAS.
• Tuition fees for non-Scottish domiciled students for 2009–10 have yet to be confirmed but are expected to be £1,820 a year (£2,895 for medicine).
• The RUK Bursary has been introduced for students normally resident in England, Wales or Northern Ireland only, studying at a Scottish university, who would otherwise have been eligible for a £319 national minimum bursary (i.e. in receipt of full HEMG) had they studied at a university in the rest of the UK. The RUK Bursary is currently worth around £310.
• Fees for placement year and year abroad are normally 50% of full-time fee.
• More information on bursaries and scholarships at the University of Aberdeen is available here.

Student mix

• A student population of around 14,000.
• 120 nationalities represented in the student body.
• Male to female ratio 46:54.

Course flexibility

• Over 550 first degree programmes on offer across three colleges.
• MA and BSc degrees are especially flexible, with students able to pick and choose from a wide variety of courses.
• Students are encouraged to tailor-make their degree programme to suit their interests and ambitions, and every student has an academic adviser to provide guidance.

Teaching standards

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• 89% of subjects rated excellent/highly satisfactory.
• The university has been praised by the UK Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education for the quality of relationships between students and staff.

Research standards

League Table

• 85% of academic staff are research active.
• Aberdeen has a long and distinguished research pedigree.
• In the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), ten of the university's departments were rated as internationally distinguished.

Academic strengths

• More than 500 years of academic excellence.
• Within the three colleges of Arts and Social Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Life Sciences and Medicine, many degree programmes have been rated either the best in Scotland or in the top ten in the UK by numerous league tables.
• Particular strengths lie in the university's founding disciplines of Arts and Humanities, Engineering, Medicine, Education, Divinity and Law.

Student facilities, including Library and Computing

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• Brand new £6-million students' centre, The Hub, opened in 2006, with dining and retail outlets, an internet cafè and drop-in centres.
• Libraries contain over 1,050,000 volumes, with wireless network access across campus from this year. All students receive free internet and email.

Disability services

• For information on disability services at Aberdeen, telephone +44 (0)1224 273935, fax +44 (0)1224 273569, email or visit thewebsite.

Students' Union

• Details of the Students' Union, our Students' Association, and our 150 student societies, are available here.  

Sport

• Over 50 sports clubs on offer for the amateur novice or professional athlete. Visit the website for details.
• Information sports facilities, including cardio-suite, performance gym, squash courts, tennis courts and swimming pool, can be found here.  
• New £24.5-million sports facility due to open in 2009, and a number of sports bursaries available.

Recent/prospective new builds

•  Planned investment of £240 million over the next 10 years, including a new flagship library for the 21st century.
• This also includes a brand new sports centre, the recent opening of a new on-campus student-centre, and a new teaching centre for clinical medicine.
• The Institute of Medical Sciences and the Institute of Applied Health Sciences are newly created research institutes, uniting scientists and clinicians in a state-of-the-art research laboratory facility.

Availability of part-time work

• Plenty of part-time work available. Students' Association runs a Joblink service, which advertises vacancies specifically for students. 

For further information

• www.abdn.ac.uk
• sras@abdn.ac.uk
• University of Aberdeen, King's College, Aberdeen AB24 3FX
• +44 (0)1224 272000
• Travel and maps