University of the Highlands and Islands: Courses, Admission, Cost

With its executive office located in Inverness, the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) is a highly-ranked public institution of higher education and research in Scotland. Established in the year 1993, UHI is composed of 13 Academic Partners in the Highlands and Islands. The institution was known as UHI Limited until 2001 when its name was changed to UHI Millennium Institute. In 2005, UHI registered an application to Privy Council to attain the authority of awarding degrees under the university name. It was in the year 2011 when UHI gained the university status and adopted the current name. UHI is recognised by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. It is funded by the Scottish Funding Council and the European Social Fund.

UHI conducts teaching and learning across 13 different sites of the constituent institutions as well as research centres at Dornoch, Fort William, Elgin, Argyll, Perth, Shetland, Thurso, Orkney and Inverness. Besides this, UHI also operates over 70 local learning centres to achieve the goal of imparting education to maximum people. Each campus features state-of-the-art academic, administrative, recreational and support facilities for the students. The institutions have well-maintained classrooms, high-tech laboratories, practice centres equipped with modern technology and equipment. UHI provides accommodation to both boys and girls in its residence halls located on each campus. These halls have single en-suites and shared bedrooms with a living area and a kitchen. Laundry services and free Wi-Fi are also available at these residences. Also, the university provides complete assistance to the students in finding a good stay in private rented local accommodations.

The academic structure of UHI is categorised into two faculties that offer various undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in arts, humanities, business, science, health and engineering. Apart from this, UHI extends a range of Honours degrees and professional courses across different disciplines. There are several courses that the students can pursue online from UHI. At present, the university has about 9984 students from various countries of the world. The total student population includes 2% of international students. About 5,894 students are pursuing degrees full-time, while 4,090 are part-time students. Apart from this, about 33,000 students are studying across all the learning centres of UHI.

University of the Highlands and Islands possesses a comprehensive list of alumni living across the globe. Many of its graduates have gained recognition for their contribution in respective fields of profession. Some notable names in the alumni list include Julie Fowlis (Multi-Instrumentalist and Folk Singer), Anne Lundon (BBC Broadcaster), Greg Lobban (Professional Squash Player) and Stephen Milne (Olympic Swimmer).