Study Abroad at the University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh is a public research university in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 and officially opened in 1583, it is one of Scotland's four ancient universities and the sixth-oldest university in continuous operation in the English-speaking world.[1] The university played an important role in Edinburgh becoming a chief intellectual centre during the Scottish Enlightenment and contributed to the city being nicknamed the "Athens of the North".

Edinburgh is a member of several associations of research-intensive universities, including the Coimbra Group, League of European Research Universities, Russell Group, Una Europa, and Universitas 21. In the fiscal year ending 31 July 2021, it had a total income of £1,175.6 million, of which £324.0 million was from research grants and contracts, with the third-largest endowment in the UK, behind only Cambridge and Oxford. The university has five main campuses in the city of Edinburgh, which include many buildings of historical and architectural significance such as those in the Old Town.

The?alumni of the university?include some of the major figures of modern history. Inventor?Alexander Graham Bell,?naturalist?Charles Darwin, philosopher?David Hume, and physicist?James Clerk Maxwell?studied at Edinburgh, as did writers such as Sir?J. M. Barrie, Sir?Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir?Walter Scott, and?Robert Louis Stevenson.?The university counts several heads of state and government amongst its graduates, including?three British Prime Ministers. Three?Supreme Court Justices of the UK?were educated at Edinburgh, as were several?Olympic?gold medallists. As of October?2021, 19?Nobel Prize?laureates, three?Turing Award?winners, two?Pulitzer Prize?winners, and an?Abel Prize?laureate and?Fields Medalist?have been affiliated with Edinburgh as alumni or academic staff.