The Student started in 1887 as a small fortnightly magazine, founded by
Robert Cochrane Buist. In 1889 the
Students' Representative Council took over publishing the paper from Buist. A typical, turn-of-the-century edition of
The Student would open with a short biography of a notable person and an editorial. The remaining content largely comprised notes from various societies, sports results, poetry and literary reviews, and profiles of newly appointed lecturers. The magazine was supported by advertising, but cost two
pence. By the 1970s,
The Student had become a weekly newspaper, roughly
Berliner in format. The running of the newspaper wasby this stagein the control of the Student Publications Board, a body independent of the university. It was during the first half of the 1970s that
Gordon Brown, future British prime minister, was a news editor. The type of content had shifted to reflect the times: a typical copy would contain pages on news, the environment, society, features, politics and entertainment. By this point, the price had risen to five pence. The 1990s saw the introduction of computers to the newspaper; the offices were also moved from the Student Publications Board offices at 1 Buccleuch Place to their present location in the
Pleasance, anecdotally held to be space reclaimed after the closure of a monkey-testing lab. Initially, the newspaper was laid out on
Apple Macintosh computers. During this period,
Darius Danesh briefly wrote for the paper, as a film and music critic. The paper, then in tabloid format, won
The Herald Student Media Award for best newspaper in 1998, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010 and the
Guardian Student Media Awards for
Best Newspaper on a Shoestring in 2001. The paper was redesigned several times in the lead-up to the millennium, winning
The Herald award for its design in 2004. After failing to win the same award the following year, the paper was again radically redesigned in 2006. Many of
The Student's former writers have gone on to become internationally renowned journalists and politicians. Past staff members of
The Student include the former British Prime Minister
Gordon Brown;
Lord Steel;
Robin Cook; and many of Fleet Street's reporters and editors. Recent graduates include
Guardian staff writer and editor Helen Pidd and
BBC radio reporter Chris Page.
Financial issues In 1992,
The Student, which had been selling for 20 pence, was dropped by
the students' association as part of a cost-cutting exercise. A grant of £5,000 from the University Development Fund allowed it to continue as a student society for a few years. By 1997, the newspaper was under severe financial pressure, selling only around a thousand copies a week at 20 pence each; the advertising was largely ineffective. During the course of the year, the newspaper stopped publishing to avoid going into debt and a relaunch was scheduled for the start of the autumn term, with a shift towards a free distribution model. This shift resulted in a wholesale change in how the newspaper was produced. For the first time, the newspaper was printed on a web offset press; full colour printing was available; and the newspaper was fully produced on computers, not old fashioned light boxes. The initial circulation after the relaunch was around 5,000 copies, distributed through cardboard stands around the various university campuses. To ease the transition, the newspaper was published on a fortnightly basis for a year. After a successful advertising funded first year the newspaper returned to being published weekly and within two years the circulation crept up to over 12,000 copies a week, aided by initiatives such as a second edition catering to the other universities within Edinburgh and a seven-day TV guide. In early 2002,
The Student's continuous run came to an end when the newspaper faced "five-figure debts". The official explanation was that the post-
11 September 2001 climate had caused a downturn in advertising, something being widely claimed by other newspapers at the time. The newspaper was relaunched at the start of the 2002/03 academic year and advertising sales, which had been traditionally managed internally, began to be handled by the advertising department of the Students' Association, though the paper's committee now includes a Head of Advertising. The paper recovered quickly, returning to weekly publication with a redesign soon after the start of the next academic year. In 2023, the students' association withdrew from its role as a major advertiser, putting the continuation of the print edition at risk. An online fundraiser raised over £4,500, enabling the print edition of 750 copies fortnightly to be continued. == Notable pieces ==