Appointment of William Carstares as Principal of Edinburgh University, 1703

The appointment of William Carstares as Principal of Edinburgh in 1703 initiated a programme of reforms designed to remodel Edinburgh University in the image of Dutch universities such as Leiden. This laid the foundation for Edinburgh to develop into one of the major universities of Enlightenment Europe.

Under Carstares, the regenting system was abolished in favour of a professorial system that assigned each of the subjects on the curriculum to a single professor. The Faculties of Arts and Law were constituted, and new chairs were established in Edinburgh University established new chairs of Public Law, Civil Law, Anatomy, and Chemistry were established.

After the death of Carstares in 1715, his reforms were continued by William Wishart and George Drummond.