University of Stirling

The University of Stirling is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by a royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built within the walled Airthrey Castle estate. The university campus is approximately 360 acres (145 hectares) in size, incorporating the Stirling University Innovation Park and the Dementia Centre. The campus is located in the foothills of the Ochil Hills. In 2002, the University of Stirling and the landscape of the Airthrey Estate was designated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites as one of the UK's top 20 heritage sites of the 20th century. Stirling was the first new university to be established in Scotland for nearly 400 years. The original site of the campus was selected from shortlisted competing sites, which include Falkirk, Perth and Inverness. The author of the Robbins Review, which recommended an expansion of the number of universities in the UK during the 1960s, Lord Robbins, was appointed as the university's first chancellor in 1968. In 1967 a house for the university principal Tom Cottrell was completed, designed by architects Morris and Steedman. It was listed as category A in 2009.