Coordinates: 57°09′54″N 2°06′00″W / 57.165°N 2.100°W / 57.165; -2.100

The University of Aberdeen is a university located in Aberdeen, Scotland. Founded in 1495, it is an ancient university and Scotland's third-oldest (following the University of St. Andrews and the University of Glasgow). It is the fifth oldest in the English-speaking world. Its current form is the result of a merger in 1860 of King's College, founded in 1495 in Old Aberdeen and Marischal College, founded in 1593 in what is now Aberdeen city centre.

The University plays a significant role in the life of the city, with its iconic buildings acting as symbols of the City of Aberdeen (e.g. Marischal College and the Crown of Kings at Kings College). The University currently has approximately 13,500 students at all levels, including a large body of international students. There are two main campuses; most activity takes place at the Kings College campus in Old Aberdeen (comprising primarily of 20th-century buildings clustered around the ancient original), while the medical school and related activities take place at the Foresterhill campus next to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. In 2012, the university offered over 650 undergraduate degree programmes. There are also large numbers of Masters and PhD students. It is a research-focused university and is consistently ranked among the top 150 universities in the world, especially in the natural sciences, technology, and law. The University of Aberdeen is one of two universities in the city today (the other is The Robert Gordon University).

Coordinates: 57°09′09″N 2°06′36″W / 57.1526°N 2.1100°W / 57.1526; -2.1100

Aberdeen ⁱ/æbərˈdiːn/ (Scots: Aiberdeen  listen (help·info); Scottish Gaelic: Obar Dheathain [ˈopər ˈʝɛhɪn]) is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 29th most populous city, with an official population estimate of 220,420.

Nicknames include the Granite City, the Grey City and the Silver City with the Golden Sands. During the mid-18th to mid-20th centuries, Aberdeen's buildings incorporated locally quarried grey granite, whose mica deposits sparkle like silver. The city has a long, sandy coastline. Since the discovery of North Sea oil in the 1970s, other nicknames have been the Oil Capital of Europe or the Energy Capital of Europe. The area around Aberdeen has been settled since at least 8,000 years ago, when prehistoric villages lay around the mouths of the rivers Dee and Don.

Aberdeen received Royal Burgh status from King David I (1124–53), transforming the city economically. The city's two universities, the University of Aberdeen, founded in 1495, and The Robert Gordon University, which was awarded university status in 1992, make Aberdeen the educational centre of the north-east. The traditional industries of fishing, paper-making, shipbuilding, and textiles have been overtaken by the oil industry and Aberdeen's seaport. Aberdeen Heliport is one of the busiest commercial heliports in the world and the seaport is the largest in the north-east of Scotland.

Professor Sir (Charles) Duncan Rice was Principal of the University of Aberdeen from September 1996 till 1 April 2010. He was previously Dean of the Faculty (1985–91), and Vice-Chancellor (1991–96) at New York University in the United States.

Rice was born in Aberdeen and studied History at the University of Aberdeen, graduating with a First in 1964. He then began lecturing at the University while completing a PhD at the University of Edinburgh, awarded in 1969.

In 1970, Rice was appointed Assistant Professor of History at Yale University, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1975. In 1979, he was appointed Professor History at Hamilton College, in Clinton, New York, and in 1985 as Professor of History and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at New York University, being promoted to Vice-Chancellor in 1994. In 1996, he was appointed Principal of the University of Aberdeen.

Rice has published widely as a professional historian, and has received honorary degrees from New York University and the Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen as well as fellowships at Harvard and Yale, and the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He serves on the Heritage Lottery Fund Committee for Scotland, is Honorary Vice-President of Scottish Opera and is Chair of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (Europe).