In 1720 Robert Gordon retired to Aberdeen. He had amassedamass： vt.收集， 积聚（尤指财富） a considerable fortune yet he is believed to have had a “frugalfrugal： adj.节俭的， 朴素的” retirement. On his death 11 years later he willed his entire estate to build a residentialresidential： adj.住宅的， 与居住有关的 school for educating young boys. In the summer of 1750 the Robert Gordon，s Hospital was born.
From1750， Robert Gordon，s Hospital provided residential education for the sons or grandsons of Burgesses of Guild or Trades Burgesses of Aberdeen. In 1881 this was converted into a day school to be known as Robert Gordon，s College， and to institute day and evening classes for boys， girls and adult persons for instruction in primary， secondary， mechanical or other subjects as the existing Governors thought proper.
Within four years there were 1254 students and 37 teachers. Many of these classes were organised after consultationconsultation： n.请教， 咨询， 磋商， ［医］会诊 with the Aberdeen Mechanics， Institute （which had been founded in 1824） and included scientific， technical and commercial courses for clerks， apprenticesapprentice： n.学徒 and others. In 1884 the whole educational work of the Aberdeen Mechanics， Institute was transferred to the college.
About the same time Mr. John Gray， head of the firm of William McKinnon， Engineers and Iron Founders， Spring Garden， offered to provide a school of science and art upon condition that the Govenors named it “Gray，s School of Science and Art”. This building was opened in 1885 with 96 students enrolled for the day classes and 322 for the evening classes.
In 1898 responsibility for providing training for apprentice apothecariesapothecary： n.药剂师， 药师， chemists and druggists was transferred to the College from the Aberdeen Pharmaceuticalpharmaceutical： adj.制药（学）上的 Society， and day and evening classes were offered for the qualifying examination of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain.
Gray，s School of Art was sited on Schoolhill.
When the then Scotch Education Department designated the vocational courses work of the college as a Central Institution in 1903， it had only a single permanent building： Gray，s School of Science and Art. This comprisedcomprise： v.包含， 由……组成 six classrooms in which both day and evening classes were held. Classrooms， and other facilities of the secondary school， were provided to mountmount： vt.爬上， 使上马， 装上， 设置， 安放， 制作……的标本， 上演 an extensive range of evening classes. These were mostly at a fairly basic craft level， whereas other， such as pharmacy classes， involved more advanced work.
Nevertheless， by 1903 Robert Gordon，s Technical College already had a long history and a reputation which was the envy of similar Colleges.
The name Robert Gordon，s Institute of Technology， or RGIT as it was popularly known， was adopted in 1965 to reflect the continuing advancement in the level of the teaching work and the new role as a centre of excellence in the non university sector of higher education.
In 1991 the name changed again， to The Robert Gordon Institute of Technology. RGIT was one of the largest Central Institutions in Scotland with probably the greatest breadth of courses.
In 1992 RGIT was awarded university status and the first Chancellor， Sir Bob Reid， was installedinstall： vt.安装， 安置， 使就职. It was an achievement which we and the local community celebrated with great pride.
Robert Gordon，s mercantilemercantile： adj.商人的， 商业的， 经商的， 重商主义的， 以金钱为目的的 adventures founded a strong and remarkably modern belief that his investment in the education of his townsfolktownsfolk： n.市民， 市镇居民 would equip them with the skills and knowledge to strengthen their success in Europe and further afield.
Today， more than 260 years after his death， the University which bears his name remains true to his spirit and enterprise.