page_title: New College, Edinburgh
section_title: Academic Ratings
hierarchical_section_title: New College, Edinburgh / Academics / Academic Ratings
caption_attribution_description: English: The statue of the Scottish church reformer, John Knox, in the quadrangle of New College.
context_page_description: New College in The University of Edinburgh is one of the largest and most renowned centres for studies in Theology and Religious Studies in the UK, with students in M.A., M.Th. and Ph.D. degree programmes coming from over 30 countries. There are now nearly 40 full-time members of the academic staff, and they include internationally respected scholars in various specialities. New College is situated on The Mound in the heart of Edinburgh's Old Town.
  New College originally opened its doors in 1846 as a college of the Free Church of Scotland, later of the United Free Church of Scotland, and from the 1930s has been the home of the School of Divinity of the University of Edinburgh. As "New College" it continues the historic commitment to offer a programme of academic preparation for ministry in the Church of Scotland, also made use of by ministerial candidates from other churches. In the 1970s the Faculty of Divinity also began offering undergraduate degrees in Theology and Religious Studies, and students in these programmes now make up the majority of the nearly 300 undergraduates enrolled in any given year.
context_section_description: New College is rated among the best schools of theology, philosophical theology, and religious studies in the UK, according to the most recent national Research Excellence Framework.
caption: Statue of John Knox in the New College quadrangle.
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