Robert Gordon University
Robert Gordon University, commonly called RGU, is a public research university in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland. It became a university in 1992, and originated from an educational institution founded in the 18th century by Robert Gordon, an Aberdeen merchant, and various institutions which provided adult and technical education in the 19th and early 20th centuries. It is one of two universities in the city, the other being the University of Aberdeen. RGU is a campus university in Garthdee, in the south-west of the city.
The university awards degrees in a wide range of disciplines from BA/BSc to PhD, primarily in professional, technical, health and artistic disciplines and those most applicable to business and industry. A number of traditional academic degree programmes are also offered, such as in the social sciences. In addition, the university's academic and research staff produce research in a number of areas.
History
The university derives from Robert Gordon's Hospital, an institution set up in the mid-18th century to provide the poor with a basic education and reasonable start in life, and the various educational institutions which developed in Aberdeen to provide adults with technical, vocational and artistic training, mostly in the evenings and part-time. Following numerous mergers between these establishments, it became Robert Gordon's Technical College in 1910, then following further developments became Robert Gordon's Institute of Technology in 1965 and began to conduct increasing amounts of research and provide degree-level education. It became a university in 1992, and now mostly offering day classes to full-time students.1720s–1881: Founding institutions
was a Scottish merchant, who had grown up in Aberdeen and graduated from Marischal College. Following a successful career, he retired to Aberdeen around 1720 where he prepared plans for a Hospital similar to that founded in Edinburgh by George Heriot. Robert Gordon's Hospital, now Robert Gordon's College was established in 1750, almost two decades after Gordon's death.In the early 19th century, the Industrial Revolution led to a greater need for scientific and technical education for working-class adults, with Mechanics' Institutes spreading through Scotland, patterned on that founded by George Birkbeck at Glasgow. The Aberdeen Mechanic's Institution opened in 1824 providing evening classes in subjects such as physics, chemistry, mathematics, book-keeping, maritime navigation and art. By 1855 it was receiving government funding as the School of Science and Art, with a Technical School founded two years later.
1881–1910: Robert Gordon's College
Government education reforms in the 1870s saw the Hospital system fall out of favour and encouraged mergers with other educational establishments. As part of these reforms, the Aberdeen Mechanic's Institute and Technical School merged with Robert Gordon's Hospital in 1881. The resulting institution was known as Robert Gordon's College. It provided an education for boys but as a day school only, and evening and later coeducational day classes for adults in science, technology, commerce and general subjects. Art classes offered by the Mechanic's Institution were transferred to Gray's School of Art which opened in 1885.1910–1965: Robert Gordon's Technical College
By the end of the 19th century, Robert Gordon's College was a major provider of technical education, receiving large government grants. Following further reforms, in 1903 the adult education part of the college was designated a Central Institution along with Gray's School of Art, allowing the adult education activities to develop independently rather than under the control of the local School Board. However, even this was not sufficient to meet demand for technical education, and dedicated Technical Colleges were being set up in other Scottish cities. As a result, in 1910 adult education activities were split from the school and became Robert Gordon's Technical College. Also merged into the new Technical College was the city's School of Domestic Economy which provided classes in domestic science. The day school for boys continued as Robert Gordon's College, and the two institutions shared a campus, buildings and until 1981, a Board of Governors and administrative staff.During the 1920s, the first Ordinary and Higher Certificates and Diplomas were awarded, and by the 1930s Robert Gordon's Technical College was made up of Schools of Engineering, Chemistry, Maths & Physics, Pharmacy, Art, Domestic Science, and Navigation. Around this time the first students began to be prepared for external degree examinations – for the University of Aberdeen's BSc in engineering. A system of student governance also developed, with a Student Representative Council formed in 1931. In the closing years of World War II, candidates started to be prepared to sit exams for external degrees of the University of London, in subjects such as Chemistry and Engineering, but only via part-time and/or evening classes. After 1945, to aid with settling large numbers of returning soldiers into a career, the Government backed a Business Training Scheme which allowed the Technical College to introduce courses in Business Administration.
1965–1992: Robert Gordon's Institute of Technology
In 1955, the Technical College received a large area of land. The architect Tom Scott Sutherland, purchased Garthdee House in 1953 and subsequently donated it and the estate in 1955 for a new school of architecture. These classes had taken place at Gray's School of Art, but had been expanding in the 1940s and 1950s and much more space was needed. Following completion of an extension to the house, the new Scott Sutherland School of Architecture opened in 1957. In 1966, Gray's School of Art also moved to a new building on this estate with its Schoolhill building being repurposed for administrative use. By 2013, all activities had transferred to Garthdee, with the addition of land immediately adjacent purchased from Aberdeen City Council in the 1990s.The 1963 Robbins Report on the future of UK higher education recommended major expansion, which led to the renaming of the institution to Robert Gordon's Institute of Technology to suggest its increasing role in higher education rather than further education. As well as new "plate-glass" universities, reforms following the report created the polytechnics in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It also created the Council for National Academic Awards to allow non-university institutions to run programmes that graduated students with CNAA degrees. The institute's first CNAA degree programmes began in pharmacy in 1967, then in engineering, chemistry and physics in 1969, and expanded at undergraduate and postgraduate level to all disciplines. Around this time, the government also began to transfer non-degree teaching to local-authority colleges.
During the 1960s, an academic committee structure was set up, headed from 1969 by an Academic Council. During the 1970s, these committees underwent expansion and reform to improve participation by academic staff in decision-making. For the first time, a faculty structure was introduced, with Faculties of Art & Architecture, Engineering, Arts, and Sciences, led by deans. A department dedicated to providing computer services to the institute was also established in 1974, and the first professorships were introduced in 1975. In 1981, the separation of the Board of Governors and administration staff from Robert Gordon's College was completed, although the school and Institute continued to share some buildings. Beginning in the 1970s, the institute also began to provide consultancy and training for the North Sea oil industry, particularly in engineering and offshore safety and survival.
1992–present: The Robert Gordon University
Following the reforms of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, the institute was awarded university status as The Robert Gordon University on 9 June 1992. The new university inherited numerous small campuses, and during the late 1990s and 2000s embarked on large building projects to consolidate teaching at its City Centre and Garthdee campuses, assisted by a large purchase of land at Garthdee from Aberdeen City Council in the mid-1990s. As new Garthee facilities were completed, the majority of these previous campuses were sold as land for housing development, while City Centre facilities that were no longer required were often sold to Robert Gordon's College, with the sale proceeds paying for the expansion and new construction at Garthdee. In the 1990s and 2000s student numbers also increased considerably, requiring new and larger facilities. A merger with the University of Aberdeen was discussed in 2002, but was rejected in favour of remaining separate but working in closer collaboration.By 2000, the university had consolidated to two campuses, at Garthdee and a city centre campus at Schoolhill and St. Andrew Street in central Aberdeen. However, it had been planned since the early 1990s to eventually move all facilities to a single campus at Garthdee and additional land was purchased to enable buildings to be constructed to house academic departments which had been at the city centre campus. The first phase was completed in summer 2013 with the opening of the Sir Ian Wood building. As of August 2017, all academic and administrative departments are located at the Garthdee Campus, with the university retaining a space within the previous Administrative Building to host events and activities offering staff, students and alumni training and funding to develop business ideas.
In March 2024, the university announced a voluntary severance plan which included reorganising subjects such as digital marketing, journalism and hospitality. The vice-chancellor Steve Olivier stated that the downsizing was key to "maintain long-term financial sustainability", citing lower numbers of foreign students and increased costs as budgetary challenges, with 130 employees ultimately departing. In November 2024, a further 135 redundancies were announced with the intention of moving some staff within the university. While Olivier called the redundancies a "last resort", Unison criticised the handling of the consultation, highlighting the perceived lack of transparency towards university staff and the consultation period covering Christmas and New Year. Liam Kerr, one of the MSPs for the North East Scotland electoral region, described the move as "a hammer blow to the future of our young people, our workforce and employers". In March 2025, the Educational Institute of Scotland voted for strike action in response to the redundancies, with its general secretary Andrea Bradley describing them as "alarming" and the cause of "a serious impact on learning and teaching across the university". Olivier called the strikes "disappointing", adding that the university had "done all that it can to mitigate against the potential of compulsory redundancies". The planned dates for industrial action were 15 April, 1 and 7 May, and 8-12 September.