Queen's College, Dundee was formed under the terms of the University of St Andrews Act, 1953. It was founded as a result of the investigation by a Royal Commission of 1951 under Lord Tedder into the constitutional relationship between the University of St Andrews and University College, Dundee. It was to include the different constituent elements of the University of St Andrews in Dundee: University College, the Medical School, the Dental School and Dundee School of Economics. In 1967 Queen's College Dundee became the University of Dundee by Royal Charter. The college continued to operate from the Perth Road to Hawkhill area of Dundee which had been the location of University College, Dundee.
Principal T. Malcolm Knox of St Andrews and David Rutherford Dow (1954-58) and Arthur Matheson (1958-66), successive Masters of Queen's College worked closely together to implement the new arrangements under the Tedder plan. It was suggested that St Andrews should concentrate on studies of a more 'academic' character (traditional Arts, Theology and Pure Science), whereas Dundee should specialise in more 'technical' or 'professional' subjects such as Social Sciences, Education, Law and Applied Science as well as Medicine. University of St Andrews degrees continued to be awarded to students at Queen's College, Dundee until the formation of the University of Dundee in 1967.
The Act of 1953 dissolved the governing bodies of University College and placed its property and endowments in the hands of a reorganised University Court. The teachers and students of all parts of the University in Dundee were formed into a society subsequently designated Queen's College. In accordance with the Tedder Commissioners' proposals, the college as such was allotted no administrative functions, but a College Councils was established for Queen's College, to which various duties of a local character were assigned by the Act and might be assigned by the University Court and Senatus Academicus as occasion arose. The head of the college was the Master of Queen's College.
After only a short time it became clear that there was a perceived threat to pure science and arts teaching in Dundee and from 1964 there were moves from Court and Senate towards a proposed University of Dundee, built on the foundation of the established institution with a wider spread of academic disciplines than St Andrews itself. An Academic Advisory Committee of the university court was appointed in 1964 to advise on its constitution and the effect likely on the remnant University of St Andrews. A Universities (Scotland) Act of 1966 was the final constitutional regulation of universities by Act of Parliament, future changes to be by charter. Thus, in 1967, in terms of a Royal Charter, Queen's College became the University of Dundee.
From the guide to the Records of Queen's College, Dundee, being the University of St Andrews in Dundee., 1953-1967, (University of St Andrews)
