A university in the centre of Scotland's capital. The University of Edinburgh has been promoting and setting standards in education for over 400 years. Granted its Royal Charter in 1582 by James VI, the son of Mary Queen of Scots, the University was founded the following year by the Town Council of Edinburgh, making it the first post-Reformation university in Scotland, and the first civic university to be established in the British Isles. Known in its early years as King James College, or the Tounis (Town's) College, the University soon established itself internationally, and by the 18th century Edinburgh was a leading centre of the European Enlightenment and one of the continent's principal universities. The University's close relationship with the city in which it is based, coupled with a forward-looking, international perspective, has kept Edinburgh at the forefront of new research and teaching developments whilst enabling it to retain a uniquely Scottish character. Edinburgh's academics are at the forefront of developments in the study and application of languages, medicine, micro-electronics, biotechnology, computer-based disciplines and many other subjects. Edinburgh's standing as a world centre for research is further enhanced by the presence on and around University precincts of many independently-funded, but closely linked, national research institutes See also ABSET, ABSYS, Alice, ASL+, Baroque, C++Linda, Cogent Prolog, COWSEL, Echidna, Edinburgh SML, ELLIS, ESLPDPRO, Hope, IMP, LCF, Lisp-Linda, metalanguage, MIKE, ML, Multipop-68, Nuprl, Oblog, paraML, POPLER, Prolog, Skel-ML, Standard ML, Sticks&Stones, supercombinators, tail recursion modulo cons, WPOP.