Scotland's Rural College (SRUC; Scottish Gaelic: Colaiste Dhùthchail na h-Alba) is a public land based research institution focused on agriculture and life sciences.

Its history stretches back to 1899 with the establishment of the West of Scotland Agricultural College and its current organisation came into being through a merger of smaller institutions.

SRUC has attracted notable botanists, chemists and agriculturists as lecturers and researchers and the institution has counted Henry Dyer, Victor Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow and Maitland Mackie amongst its academic staff.

Originally based in Blythswood Square, Glasgow, the institution began moving to Ayrshire when in 1927 the Auchincruive estate in the parish of St Quivox near Ayr was left to the college by the late John Hannah of Girvan Mains.

Academic Robert Wallace helped found the college, having set up the bachelor's degree programme in agriculture during his time as a professor at the University of Edinburgh.

Classes were then moved to a new teaching campus at the Craibstone Estate established in 1999, a site which the college had purchased in 1914 for research and fieldwork.

As technical colleges to transfer the growing scientific knowledge of agricultural issues to farmers and the general public, the three Scottish agricultural colleges were among ten central institutions noted in 1906 as providing technical instruction and sound scientific instruction meeting the "continuation class code" set of regulations drawn up in 1901.

[10] The institution offered undergraduate and postgraduate programmes from its three campuses in Ayr, Aberdeen and Edinburgh, as well as training and online study on topics including the environment, business, leisure, agriculture, horticulture and science.

The new millennium brought extra investment in animal care and veterinary nursing, an equine unit and a forestry technology centre.

Its foundations were laid 20 years earlier when holding classes in the local school and cricket club before the education committee of Fife County Council acquired some land and erected a Nissen hut.

[16] Education Secretary Mike Russell voiced support for the merger in June 2012,[17] and Scotland's Rural College formally came into existence on 1 October 2012.

[18][19][20] The work of the Scottish Agricultural College in education and training, research and development and consultancy services, would be continued by the newly-merged institution.

[24] In 2022, SRUC's application for degree awarding powers was approved to advance to the scrutiny stage by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education advisory committee.

The £81 million facility was opened in September 2011 and was awarded the internationally recognised BREEAM excellence rating for its environmentally friendly design.

SRUC's Elmwood campus is based in Cupar, a small town in Fife approximately nine miles from St Andrews.

As well as a student accommodation and a library, there is also a nine-hole golf course, and the campus is home to the Scottish National Equestrian Centre (SNEC).

[29] The further education and undergraduate degree programmes at SRUC are grouped into six main departments: Agriculture and Business Management, Animal and Equine, Engineering, Science and Technology, Environment and Countryside, Horticulture and Landscape, and Sport and Tourism.

The institution has educated politicians Alex Fergusson, John Home Robertson, Ian Liddell-Grainger, Róisín McLaren, Hugh Roberton, Douglas Ross, Mark Ruskell, Struan Stevenson and Andy Stewart; sportspeople Ian Barr, Thomas Muirhead, Jo Pitt and Doddie Weir; military officers John Gilmour and William Reid VC; and broadcaster and author Frances Tophill.

Governors of the institution have included pioneering technical educator Henry Dyer and agriculturist and Liberal Party politician Maitland Mackie.

Academics Ernest Shearer and Stephen John Watson successively served as principal in addition to their role as professor of agriculture at the University of Edinburgh.

Veterinary surgeon William Christopher Miller lectured in animal hygiene and decorated Scout leader Alec Spalding MBE was an agricultural economist at the institution.

Academic Allison Bailey worked at the institution before moving to New Zealand to become professor of farm management at Lincoln University.