The first 100 years and beyond

1668: Birth of Robert Gordon, future founder of Robert Gordon's Hospital

1684: Elected a Burgess of Guild, enabling him to trade as a merchant in the city

1689: Graduates from Marischal College and establishes business as a merchant trader in Danzig in the Baltic.

1729: Founds Robert Gordon's Hospital, to educate the young sons and grandsons of Burgesses of the Guild who were too poor to maintain them at school.

1731: Robert Gordon dies

1750: Robert Gordon's Hospital opens to provide residential education for the sons and grandsons of Burgesses of Guild or Trade Burgesses of Aberdeen

The College matures and grows.

1824: Aberdeen Mechanics' Institution opens - the beginnings of an adult education programme

1881: Robert Gordon's Hospital is transformed into Robert Gordon's College with a secondary day school and separate adult education college

1884: Educational work of the Aberdeen Mechanics' Institute is transferred to the College

1885: Gray's School of Science and Art opens on Schoolhill, funded by John Gray, head of the firm of William McKinnon, Engineers and Iron Founders

1898: Aberdeen Pharmaceutical Society transfers training for apprentice apothecaries, chemists and druggists to the College

Higher levels of teaching and learning are reached

1903: Scottish Education Department designates the vocational courses work of the College as a ‘Central Institution for Specialised Instruction'

1910: Robert Gordon's Technical College is formed

1955: Local architect and businessman Tom Scott Sutherland gifts the Garthdee Estate

1957: Scott Sutherland School of Architecture opens

1965: College becomes known as Robert Gordon's Institute of Technology (RGIT) to reflect higher levels of teaching and its new role as a centre of excellence in the non-university higher education sector

1967: Gray's School of Art moves to Garthdee campus

1991: Name changes to The Robert Gordon Institute of Technology - one of the largest central institutions in Scotland

1992: Awarded university status and first chancellor, Sir Bob Reid, is installed

Garthdee campus grows and key facilities move to new surroundings

1998: At the end of the 20th Century the Aberdeen Business School moved to the Garthdee campus.

2002: The Faculty of Health & Social Care building was opened in the summer of 2002 and is home to Applied Social Studies, the School of Health Sciences and the School of Nursing & Midwifery.

Garthdee has grown enormously over the years and is where you'll find:

• Gray's School of Art
• The Scott Sutherland School of Architecture & Built Environment
• Aberdeen Business School
• Faculty of Health & Social Care
• RGU: Sport
• Administration buildings

Present day: Campus development continues in parallel with growth in RGU's reputation.

Visit the Estates Masterplan 2009 for more information on our future.