The University of Glasgow was founded in 1451, which makes it more than five hundred and seventy years old. It is the second-oldest university in Scotland, after St Andrews, and the fourth-oldest in the English-speaking world, after Oxford, Cambridge and St Andrews. It began life inside Glasgow Cathedral and grew into one of the great centres of learning in Europe. There is more on our University of Glasgow page.

Founded by a papal bull

In 1451 Pope Nicholas V issued a papal bull, at the request of King James II, granting Bishop William Turnbull permission to found a university beside the city’s Cathedral. James wanted a second Scottish university to stand alongside St Andrews and give his kingdom parity with England. The original bull remains, in principle, the authority by which the University still awards its degrees.

From the Cathedral to Gilmorehill

For its first years the University taught in the chapter house of the Cathedral. Around 1460 it moved to a site on the High Street, the celebrated ‘Old College’, and in 1563 Mary, Queen of Scots granted it further land there. It stayed in the crowded, smoky heart of the medieval city for four centuries, until in 1870 it moved west to its present home at Gilmorehill, the grand Gothic building by Sir George Gilbert Scott that still crowns the skyline.

One of the four ancient universities

Glasgow is one of Scotland’s four ancient universities, alongside St Andrews, founded in 1413, Aberdeen in 1495 and Edinburgh in 1583. That deep history is a large part of the city’s claim to great age, a question we weigh in our post on whether Glasgow or Edinburgh is older.

A cradle of the Enlightenment

The University became one of the engines of the Scottish Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. Adam Smith both studied and taught here, James Watt worked here as an instrument maker while he transformed the steam engine, and Lord Kelvin made his name here in physics. Its Hunterian is the oldest public museum in Scotland. For the wider story, see our page on education in Glasgow.

When was the University of Glasgow founded?

It was founded in 1451, by a papal bull issued by Pope Nicholas V at the request of King James II.

Is Glasgow the oldest university in Scotland?

No. St Andrews, founded in 1413, is older. Glasgow, founded in 1451, is the second-oldest of Scotland’s four ancient universities.

Where was the University of Glasgow originally?

It began inside Glasgow Cathedral, then moved to the High Street around 1460, and has stood at Gilmorehill in the West End since 1870.