Scotland is renowned for its magnificent scenery, historic buildings and cultural and leisure attractions. The population density is low - around five million people inhabit 77,000 square kilometres, 80 per cent of them in the central belt.
The principal cities are Edinburgh, the capital, and Glasgow, the commercial centre. Edinburgh is an established international business and cultural centre, while Glasgow, which is undergoing a wide-ranging renaissance, has attracted the accolades of European City of Culture 1990 and City of Architecture 1999.
A Temperate Climate
Scotland has a temperate climate, generally only a few degrees below that of England. Because of Scotland’s relatively high latitude, summer days are long, even though winter days are slightly shorter than in the south. For example, in June, Lerwick in Shetland enjoys four more hours of daylight each day than London.
A Modern Economy
Scotland has a broad-based economy, with tourism, information technology and oil-related industries to the fore. Exports include electronics products, chemicals, machinery, metal manufacturers, textiles and whisky, all characterised by the enduring Scottish hallmark of quality.
Great Communications
Scotland is a compact country, with short travelling distances between the principal centres. Excellent road and rail services provide fast and efficient travel throughout the United Kingdom. Four international airports offer regular, scheduled, direct flights to Europe and North America.
Widely available Healthcare
Scotland has advanced medical facilities. Free medical and hospital services are provided through the National Health Service for people employed or "ordinarily resident" in the United Kingdom, regardless of their level of social security contributions. Private medical and dental care is also available, as is private health insurance.
A wealth of leisure pursuits
Scotland’s landscape, which is famous the world over, provides a spectacular backdrop for a wide variety of outdoor activities. There are well established long-distance pathways, a lively hill-walking and mountaineering scene and many commercial skiing centres.Scotland has the highest concentration of gold courses in the world, and the most varied, from the famous Old Course at St Andrews and the championship courses of Royal Troon, Turnberry, Carnoustie and Gleneagles to the many lesser-known private and municipal courses. In all, Scotland has more than 700 clubs and more than 500 courses.
Universities and colleges
Given Scotland’s size, the high quality, quantity and diversity of its universities and colleges is remarkable, and many of them are leaders in specific scientific or technological disciplines.
Partnerships between the academic world and industry are a hallmark of the Scottish educational tradition. These well developed interactions give substantial help to both students and industry.
Students benefit from flexible and practical courses that help them to be more employable, and industry gains from exposure to the latest academic research and development findings.
In addition, Scotland’s universities and colleges have a long tradition of supplying graduates to commerce and industry. While academics are at the leading edge of developing new technologies, industry is commercialising and finding new uses and markets for the fruits of their innovation.
For many decades, Scotland had four universities to England’s two.
Scotland now has 13 universities and 55 colleges.
There are around 130,000 students in full-time and part time education in Scotland. Around 85 per cent are in higher education, with the remainder in further education colleges.
Scottish universities run 25 per cent of the language courses, and 20 per cent of science continuing education courses, in the United Kingdom.
Strathclyde University and Edinburgh University Management School run the two largest evening Master of Business Administration programmes in the United Kingdom. These provide flexible study programmes for employees.
Heriot-Watt University offers the only full-time honours degree in brewing and distilling in the United Kingdom.
More than 23,000 people are studying engineering and technology subjects, and more than 4,000 of them graduate each year.
More than 30,000 people successfully completed a full-time higher education course in 1993.
Glasgow University has more students on science-based courses than any other university in the United Kingdom outside London.
This article first appeared in the journal: Educational Courses in Britain
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