Founding member: University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh is pre-eminently international. We have over 30,000 matriculated students of whom roughly a third come from outside the UK. Our involvement with the ACU provides the potential for interaction with over 540 other universities from across the Commonwealth of Nations.

The University is one of the 53 universities that originally came together in 1913, ‘for the purpose of disseminating information upon all matters of common interest.’ 

The 1913/14 Calendar records: “Number of matriculated students [1912-13] 3404, (including 572 women), of whom more than one-third were [Medicine] students. Of these 228 were from England and Wales, 95 from Ireland, 102 from India, 265 from British Colonies, 49 from foreign countries, and 591 belonged to Scotland. Non-matriculated students, 87 (39 women), chiefly attending Music and German Lit. classes. 69 women were attending extra-academical lectures with a view to graduation in [Medicine]”

When the ACU was formed in 1913, the University of Edinburgh was a prime destination for many students and staff from across the world, as it had been since the era of the Scottish Enlightenment, which began two centuries earlier.

India provides a prime example of our commitment to the Commonwealth. Many of the civil servants who represented British interests in India during the 18th and 19th centuries were Scottish, and a large proportion of them were educated at Edinburgh. Conversely, many Indians came to Edinburgh. In fact, the first ever South Asian student society at a UK university was established at Edinburgh in 1875.

The University’s extensive programme of work ’with India, in India’ continues unabated to this day. In November 2011, it was re-energised through the establishment of the University of Edinburgh India Office in Mumbai. The India Office acts as the University’s ‘consulate’, providing an in-country point of contact with research partners and alumni.

The University’s comprehensive commitment to the Commonwealth of Nations extends in countless ways beyond India and the benefits of ACU membership are incalculable. The ACU membership is bonded by a legacy of co-operation and joint purpose upon which the Commonwealth itself is founded. Through involvement with the ACU the University of Edinburgh is able to find effective ways to help realign its 21st century global aspirations.

We believe the major challenges affecting higher education instititions include:

• Providing accessible, affordable and aspirational teaching and research opportunities that equip students and staff for global citizenship
• Global geopolitics threatening institutional security and academic mobility
• Economic instability and austerity
• Social (dis)order
• Global ‘grand challenges’ (environment, food and water security, energy, etc...)

Some of these global challenges may also affect us on an institutional level. In anticipation of this, and to position ourselves to continue to push boundaries and embrace opportunities, we have developed The University of Edinburgh Strategic Plan 2012-16.

The University of Edinburgh is a proud founding member of the ACU. The University strongly endorses the ACU’s Centenary Theme 'Future forward: design, develop, deliver'. We keenly anticipate involvement in a reinvigorated ACU, working with partners as a team, to stay ahead of future challenges to the sector.