Scotland's Rural University College

Scotland's Rural College

Type	College
Established	2012, merger of Barony, Oatridge, Elmwood Colleges with the Scottish Agricultural College
Principal	Wayne Powell
Chief Executive	Janet Swadling
Administrative staff	1500
Students	1,580 (2015/16)
Undergraduates	1,525 (2015/16)
Postgraduates	55 (2015/16)
Location	Aberdeen, Ayr, Cupar, Dumfries and Galloway, West Lothian, Scotland, United Kingdom
Website	www.sruc.ac.uk

Scotland's Rural College (SRUC) is a higher education institution that combines education, consulting and research in Scotland. It focuses on agriculture. It was founded in October 2012 through a merger of Barony College, Elmwood College, Oatridge College and the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC).

The institution will work towards gaining the status of a university college with degree awarding powers. Until such time, the initialism SRUC is given as the organisation's name to avoid a reference to university college status. SRUC is a registered charity under Scottish law. Degrees are currently awarded by The University of Edinburgh and the The University of Glasgow depending on the campus.

SRUC students study land-based courses on sites throughout Scotland from further education to PhD level. The organisation’s Research Division carries out research in the agriculture and rural sector while the Consulting Division, SAC Consulting, works with more than 12,000 clients in rural businesses and associated industries. The college has six campuses across Scotland while the Consulting arm has 26 offices located both in Scotland and in the north of England, as well as eight veterinary surveillance centres. SRUC’s Research Division operates in six research centres, and SRUC also runs eight farms for both research and educational purposes.

Scotland’s Rural College‘s heritage stretches back more than 100 years through many smaller institutions which have merged. The current organisation came into being on 1 October 2012 after land-based colleges Barony, Elmwood and Oatridge merged with the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC).

Before it became a college the 300 acre Barony estate had a varied existence. It was an elegant home, a home for the elderly, a wartime army training camp and, up until 1947, a prisoner of war camp. In 1949 Dumfries County Council Education Department purchased the estate with the purpose of turning it into an agricultural school. The Barony Farm School opened in 1953, with a class 46 boys of 14 to 15 years of age.