Foundation The University of Dundee has its roots in the earlier
university college based in Dundee and the
University of St Andrews. During the 19th century, the growing population of Dundee significantly increased demand for the establishment of an institution of higher education in the city and several organisations were established to promote this end, including a University Club in the city. There was a significant movement with the intention of moving the entire university to Dundee (which the royal commission observed was now a "large and increasing town") or the establishment of a college along very similar lines to the present
United College. Finally, agreement was reached that what was needed was expansion of the sciences and professions, rather than the arts at St Andrews. A donation of £120,000 for the creation of an institution of higher education in Dundee was made by Miss
Mary Ann Baxter of Balgavies, a notable lady of the city and heir to the fortune of William Baxter of Balgavies. In this endeavour, she was assisted by her relative, John Boyd Baxter, an alumnus of St Andrews and
Procurator Fiscal of
Forfarshire who also contributed nearly £20,000. In order to craft the institution and its principles, it was to be established first as an independent university college, with a view from its very inception towards incorporation into the University of St Andrews. No religious oaths were to be required of members. Later that year, "University College, Dundee" was established as an academic institution and the first principal,
Sir William Peterson, was elected in late 1882. When opened in 1883, it comprised five faculties: Maths and Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Engineering and Drawing, English Language and Literature and Modern History, and Philosophy. The University College had no power to award degrees and for some years some students were prepared for
external examinations of the
University of London. By 1894, the faculties offered at the college remained essentially scientific in outlook, with three academics - including the principal,
William Peterson - giving instruction in classics,
philosophy, English and history at both the Dundee and St Andrews sites. The policy of no discrimination between the sexes, which was insisted upon by Mary Ann Baxter, meant that the new college recruited several able female students. Their number included the social reformer
Mary Lily Walker and, later,
Margaret Fairlie who in 1940 became Scotland's first female professor. Another early female graduate, Ruth Wilson, later Young, became professor of surgery at
Lady Hardinge Medical College in Delhi and later became its principal.
Incorporation into the University of St Andrews Following discussions around various forms of incorporation and association, students were able to matriculate through the University of St Andrews from 1885. The full incorporation was completed in 1897 when University College became part of the University of St Andrews. This move was of notable benefit to both, enabling the University of St Andrews (which was in a small town) to support a medical school. Medical students could choose to undertake preclinical studies either in Dundee or St Andrews (at the
Bute Medical School) after which all students would undertake their clinical studies at Dundee. Eventually, law, dentistry and other professional subjects were taught at University College. By 1904 University College had a roll of 208, making up 40 per cent of the roll of the university generally. By session 1909–1910, 234 students were studying at University College, 101 of whom were female. Among the notable students at this time were
Robert Watson-Watt, the
radar pioneer;
William Alexander Young the epidemiologist who later died in
Accra while studying yellow fever; and David Rutherford Dow who would go on to be a senior member of staff at the college. In 1895, unlike the students at St Andrews, there were reportedly very few "
bona-fide"
matriculated students at Dundee who were "aiming to graduate". During the academic years of 1892–4, those students at Dundee who had
matriculated at St Andrews were considered St Andrews University students and were subsequently awarded degrees by St. Andrews. Although the union between the two institutions was then threatened by a
lawsuit, by 1898 the union with St. Andrews was restored on the original basis. University College's development in the early twentieth century has been described as "slow and fitful" and the interwar period saw virtually no new building projects, leaving large parts of the college housed in buildings which were not fit for purpose. Kenneth Baxter has claimed that
World War I had a major impact on University College and stated that the conflict presented it with "a storm of challenges unlike anything it had faced" up to that point. Baxter contends that the War impacted the college greatly, with key consequences being declining student numbers which in turn led to a loss of income, as well as staff departures and the decaying of fabric. In 2018 it was revealed that research shows that while the college's
war memorial records the names of 37 staff and former students who died at least a further 39 alumni of the college were not recorded on it. In 1920 the college received a war trophy in the form of a "40 ton, 15 cm field gun", which was thought to have been captured from Bulgarian forces and was sited in front of the students Union. Attempts were made to raise income. In 1923
Rudyard Kipling, then the
rector of the University of St Andrews, visited University College and asked the merchant princes and leading citizens of Dundee to give the college their money and support. Kipling implored those who had lost their sons in the
Great War to consider giving a donation so that their names would live on. Staff of a high calibre continued to be employed by the university including Alexander Peacock and
Margaret Fairlie, who in 1940 was appointed as professor of
obstetrics and gynaecology and thus became the first woman to hold a professorial chair at a university in Scotland. In 1947, the principal of University College,
Douglas Wimberley released the "Wimberley Memo" (resulting in the Cooper and Tedder reports of 1952), advocating independence for the college. In 1954, after a royal commission, University College was renamed "Queen's College" and the Dundee-based elements of the university gained a greater degree of independence and flexibility. It was also at this time that Queen's College absorbed the former Dundee School of Economics as well as the jointly administered medical school and dental school.
Modern developments In 1974, the university began to validate some degrees from Dundee's
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, and by 1988 all degrees from that institution were being validated in this fashion. In 1994 the two institutions merged, with the college becoming a constituent faculty of the university. In 1996, the Tayside College of Nursing and the Fife College of Health studies became part of the university, as a school of Nursing and Midwifery. For several years, Dundee College of Education prepared students for degree examinations at the University of Dundee, and in December 2001 the university merged with the Dundee campus of Northern College to create a Faculty of Education and Social Work. In October 2005, the university became home to the first
UNESCO centre in the United Kingdom. The IHP-HELP Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science is involved in research regarding the management of the world's water resources on behalf of the
United Nations. A school of accounting and finance was introduced in 2007. These disciplines are now part of the School of Business. Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, the university suspended most face to face teaching from 16 March 2020. However, a "blended learning" approach was offered to many students with weekly tutorials available in person for small groups using COVID-19 protocols of social distancing and regular cleaning. ==Campus==