In which British city was the Heriot-Watt University established in 1821?

Heriot-Watt University is a public university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the world's first mechanics' institute (Royal Charter granted in 1966). It has campuses in the Scottish Borders, Orkney, Dubai, and Putrajaya in Malaysia.

The university is ranked among the World's Top 500 by all three major rankings - 312 in QS World University Rankings, 351-400 in Times Higher Education World University Rankings and 401-500 in Academic Ranking of World Universities. In the latest Research Excellence Framework, it was ranked overall in the Top 25% of UK universities and 1st in Scotland for research impact. It has been rated 'silver' in the latest UK Teaching Excellence Framework.

Heriot-Watt was established as the School of Arts of Edinburgh by Scottish businessman Leonard Horner on 16 October 1821. Having been inspired by Anderson's College in Glasgow, Horner established the School to provide practical knowledge of science and technology to Edinburgh's working men. The institution was initially of modest size, giving lectures two nights a week in rented rooms and boasting a small library of around 500 technical works. It was also oversubscribed, with admissions soon closing despite the cost of 15 shillings for a year's access to lectures and the library.

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16 Comments

Jessica Stewart

Easy question for me! My daughter graduated from Heriot-Watt University and I worked in the Institute of Petroleum Engineering distance learning department. The university itself is set in lovely grounds.

Albeck1994

Ruby Fraser, and where do you think Scotland is

Albeck1994

Darlene Davidson, yes and Scotland is part of Britain therefore it is a city in Britain

Albeck1994

Tom Seigo, of course it's British city

Albeck1994

Gery Tillmanns, but they are British

Michael Brain

stayed there for a Dorothy Dunnett convention

Cheryl McMeekin

Got it, lucky guess..

Ray Zagata

Easy one. Studied there & got my degree in Physics.

Steve Edwards

Sorry, I’ve fallen foul of the very thing I was posting about in my last post! That last sentence in my previous post should have said, “... mistakenly call him/her ENGLISH, ...” And when I said “Americans” I should have said “North Americans” 😉

Steve Edwards

For all of you Americans out there complaining about this question, Scotland is part of Great Britain (which consists of England, Scotland and Wales) and therefore the University is indeed British. Most Scots are not offended at being called British (it’s what is on their Passport), even though they would identify as being Scottish first. However, if you mistakenly him/her British, ... well that would be another thing altogether!