Nations in Scottish universities

Nations were a characteristic of some of the ancient universities and have gradually decreased in significance in recent times.

The four nations were originally "Albany," "Angus," "Lothian" and "Britain" covering approximately northwest, northeast, southeast and southwest Scotland respectively.

[7] Following the Universities (Scotland) Act 1858, the use of nations to elect the Lord Rector continued via the election of Procurators, similar to the system used at the University of Glasgow, with the Chancellor having deciding vote in case of a tie.

The four nations of the University were Angus, Mar ("Marriensis"), Buchan ("Buchanensis") and Moray ("Moraviensis").

[2] Prior to the 1858 Act, Glasgow and Marischal College, one of Aberdeen's predecessor universities, were alone in making provision via the nations for election of a Rector.