 |
The Watt Club is the alumni association of Heriot-Watt University and the oldest association of its kind in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1854, today the Club has over 82,000 members worldwide. [1]
| |
The Watt Club is the alumni association of Heriot-Watt University and the oldest association of its kind in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1854, today the Club has over 82,000 members worldwide. [1]
The Watt Club was founded on 12 May 1854 following the unveiling of a statue of James Watt outside the Watt Institution and School of Arts (later Heriot-Watt University). At a late-night event to celebrate the occasion, [2] Edinburgh Jeweller John E. Vernon argued for the formation of an organisation that would celebrate Watt's life, stating:
"[a club should be formed] whose object would be to sup together on the anniversary of the birth of James Watt…and also to promote the interests of the School, by raising a fund each year to provide prizes." [3] : 144–145
A club was subsequently formed with Vernon as its first President, [4] and proceeded to hold its first dinner in celebration of Watt's birthday on 20 January 1855. Such dinners remained popular for several years, with the status of members increasing as the organisation's notoriety grew.
Membership of the Watt Club began to decline in the 1880s, however, and in 1910 the organisation officially ceased to exist. It remained defunct until 1935, when a request from the Science Museum to borrow one of its old medals from Heriot-Watt College led to renewed interest in the organisation. The Club was subsequently reconstituted on 28 November of that year.
After Heriot-Watt became a university in 1966, the Watt Club allowed graduates to become members free of charge. Following this the roles of the Club and the Graduates' Association of the University became increasingly similar, and the two bodies ultimately merged in 1994. As a result, the Club became the official alumni association of the University, a position it has held ever since. [5]
Students of Heriot-Watt automatically become life members of the Watt Club upon graduation from the University. Members are entitled to vote in the Club's elections, attend its annual meetings and receive a variety of additional benefits. In particular, they have access to the organisation's local branches around the world and ambassadors on four continents. [6]
The Club elects a president every two years who chairs the organisation's annual meetings, represents the views of members to the senior management of Heriot-Watt and takes part in various ceremonial functions. The Club also appoints a vice-president to act in the role when the president is unable to do so., [4] and has a Council of up to 20 members which seeks to further the organisation's aims and objectives. [7]
Each year, the Watt Club gives awards to Heriot-Watt students whose work is considered of outstanding merit:
Yasmin Schembri was awarded the Watt Club Medal for Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society in 2022.
The University of Rochester is a private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1955. With approximately 30,000 full-time employees, the university is the largest private employer in Upstate New York and the 7th largest in all of New York State.
The University of Warwick is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of a government initiative to expand higher education. The Warwick Business School was established in 1967, the Warwick Law School in 1968, Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) in 1980, and Warwick Medical School in 2000. Warwick incorporated Coventry College of Education in 1979 and Horticulture Research International in 2004.
St Catherine's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. In 1974, it was also one of the first men's colleges to admit women. It has 528 undergraduate students, 385 graduate students and 37 visiting students as of December 2020, making it one of the largest colleges in either Oxford or Cambridge.
The Association of MBAs (AMBA) is a global organisation headquartered in London, UK. It was founded in 1967 with the primary objective of accrediting Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs.
Madras Institute of Technology (MIT) is an engineering institute located in Chromepet, Chennai, India. It is one of the four autonomous constituent colleges of Anna University. It was established in 1949 by Chinnaswami Rajam as the first self-financing engineering institute in the country and later merged with Anna University. The institute was among the first educational institutions in India to offer new areas of specialization, such as aeronautical engineering, automobile engineering, electronics engineering and instrumentation technology. Madras Institute of Technology (MIT) was the first self-financing institute opened in India.
The George Washington University is a private federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress and is the first university founded under Washington, D.C.'s jurisdiction. It is one of the nation's six federally chartered universities.
Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee is a technical university located in Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India. It is the oldest engineering institution in India. It was founded as the College of Civil Engineering in 1847 during East India Company rule in India by James Thomason, the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces in which Roorkee was located; its purpose was to train officers and surveyors employed in the construction of the Ganges Canal. In 1854, after the completion of the canal and Thomason's death, it was renamed the Thomason College of Civil Engineering by Proby Cautley, the designer and projector of the canal. It was renamed University of Roorkee in 1949, and again renamed IIT Roorkee in 2001. The institution has 22 academic departments covering Engineering, Applied Sciences, Humanities & Social Sciences and Management programs with an emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.
The American Whig–Cliosophic Society, sometimes abbreviated as Whig-Clio, is a political, literary, and debating society at Princeton University and the oldest debate union in the United States. Its precursors, the American Whig Society and the Cliosophic Society, were founded at Princeton in 1769 and 1765.
Heriot-Watt University is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and was subsequently granted university status by royal charter in 1966. It is the eighth-oldest higher education institution in the United Kingdom. The name Heriot-Watt was taken from Scottish inventor James Watt and Scottish philanthropist and goldsmith George Heriot.
Hatfield College is one of the constituent colleges of Durham University in England. It occupies a city centre site above the River Wear on the World Heritage Site peninsula, lying adjacent to North Bailey and only a short distance from Durham Cathedral. Taking its name from a medieval Prince-Bishop of Durham, the college was founded in 1846 as Bishop Hatfield's Hall by David Melville, a former Oxford don.
The College of St Hild and St Bede, commonly known as Hild Bede, is a constituent college of Durham University in England. With over 1000 student members, The co-educational college was formed in 1975 following the merger of two much older single-sex institutions, the College of the Venerable Bede for men and St Hild's College for women.
Imperial College School of Medicine (ICSM) is the undergraduate medical school of Imperial College London in England and one of the United Hospitals. It is part of the college's Faculty of Medicine and was formed by the merger of several historic medical schools. Its core campuses are located at South Kensington, St Mary's, Charing Cross, Hammersmith and Chelsea and Westminster. The school ranked 4th in the world for medicine in the 2024 Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
A blue is an award of sporting colours earned by athletes at some universities and schools for competition at the highest level. The awarding of blues began at Oxford and Cambridge universities in England. They are now awarded at a number of other British universities and at some universities in Australia and New Zealand.
St. John’s College is an Anglican college affiliated to the University of Hong Kong, which provides accommodation to undergraduates and postgraduates. As the successor of St. John’s Hall, which was founded in 1912, the College is the oldest residential hall/college of the University. Constitutionally, the College is a body corporate established by statute, the St. John’s College Ordinance, on 27 April 1956. As such, unlike other residential halls/colleges that are directly administered by the University, the College enjoys financial and administrative independence. The Ricci Hall, run by the Jesuits, is the only other non-University-administered hall.
Heriot-Watt University Dubai Campus is a satellite campus of Heriot-Watt University based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Established in 2005, it was the first campus of an overseas university to open in Dubai International Academic City.
Manor Hall is a student hall of residence at the University of Bristol. Situated in the Georgian/Victorian suburb of Clifton, Bristol, it provides self-catering accommodation for around 340 residents, both in the main hall itself and also in a number of nearby surrounding annexes. The majority of residents are first year undergraduate students, but a number of 'returners' choose to stay on to contribute to the hall's life and community in subsequent years of study.
A common room is a group into which students are organised in some universities, particularly in the United Kingdom, normally in a subdivision of the university such as a college or hall of residence, in addition to an institution-wide students' union. They represent their members within the hall or college, operate certain services within these institutions such as laundry or recreation, and provide opportunities for socialising. There are variations based on institutional tradition and needs, but classically the following common rooms will exist:
The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948.
St. Joseph's College (Autonomous), Jakhama, is a college established and managed by the Diocese of Kohima, Nagaland. It is the first college established by the Catholic Church in Nagaland and is located in the southern part of the Kohima Metropolitan Area at Jakhama.