THE FOUNDATION OF THE EDINBURGH SCHOOL OF ARTS

In the 18th century, Scotland was one of the most well-educated societies in Europe, with schools established in most lowland parishes and a thriving university system. It was, however, socially stratified, with only the most basic education available to the poor (and often none at all in the highlands) and universities still the preserve of the landed elite. The universities of Scotland did, however, enjoy fruitful connections with the continent and it was through them that modern concepts of ethics, politics, medicine, science and philosophy began to spread into British public life.

The ideas and personal examples of thinking men such as Adam Smith, Adam Ferguson and other Scottish Enlightenment reformers inspired a new culture of professional competence, self-improvement and meritocracy, that contrasted with the dominant system of aristocratic patronage in England. The ideas of this ‘system of the North’ were communicated to the students of Edinburgh University by Dugald Stewart, the first to teach a course in economics in Britain. Among his pupils, Henry Brougham, Francis Horner, Francis Jeffrey and Sydney Smith established the to spread these principles across Britain and to encourage the spread of education. Brougham, who became