ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH

The University of Edinburgh (abbreviated as Edin. in post-nominals), founded in 1583, is the sixth oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's ancient universities. The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city of Edinburgh, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university.

The University of Edinburgh was ranked 19th in the world by the 2016–17 QS rankings. It is now ranked 23rd in the world according to 2018 QS Rankings. It is ranked as the 6th best university in Europe by the U.S. News' Best Global Universities Ranking, and 7th best in Europe by the Times Higher Education Ranking. The Research Excellence Framework, a research ranking used by the UK government to determine future research funding, ranked Edinburgh 4th in the UK for research power, and 11th overall. It is ranked the 78th most employable university in the world by the 2017 Global Employability University Ranking. It is a member of both the Russell Group, and the League of European Research Universities, a consortium of 21 research universities in Europe. It has the third largest endowment of any university in the United Kingdom, after the universities of Cambridge and Oxford. The annual income of the institution for 2016–17 was £905.8 million of which £265.3 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £847.5 million.

The university played an important role in leading Edinburgh to its reputation as a chief intellectual centre during the Age of Enlightenment, and helped give the city the nickname of the Athens of the North.