Dignitaries representing the local community, the city council, current academics, students and graduates of the university will join the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland for the special service at St Machar Cathedral. Principal C Duncan Rice, will take part in the Act of Commemoration and recite the names of the seven Founders of the University.
The University of Aberdeen is Scotland's third oldest, founded in 1495 by William Elphinstone, the Bishop of Aberdeen and former Chancellor of Scotland who saw a need for more clergy, teachers and doctors to serve the community of the North. With the support of James IV and the approval of Pope Alexander VI, Bishop Elphinstone created a new university and established a new centre of learning in the town of Old Aberdeen. In 1497, the University could boast the first chair of medicine in the English-speaking world.
