Aberdeen's university boat race may not be as famous as its Oxbridge counterpart but it arguably tells us more about the future of British universities. The battle on the River Thames pits together the reputations of two fierce academic competitors - two universities whose missions are so close they are embraced by one brand: Oxbridge.

The race on the Dee is very different. The crews may be just as determined to win but the two universities involved - historic Aberdeen and the "new" University of Robert Gordon have missions so diverse they hardly ever, otherwise, compete. They illustrate the extreme diversity emerging in UK higher education.

Technically, RGU, as it is known, is a new university - one of those created in 1992 when most of the former polytechnics gained university status. However, RGU has a history stretching back into the 17th century and its excellence at what it does is such that it has overtaken some "old" universities in the FT's league tables.

RGU is perhaps one of the best examples of a "polyversity" and its vice chancellor, Professor Bill Stevely, has a clear idea of its mission. "We have set our stall out to be the best vocational university in the UK - it is not on our agenda to be the best new university in the UK."

"We want our programmes to be at the leading edge - and unashamedly vocational. Unlike the other new universities created in 1992, our lineage extends back a long way," says Dr Adrian Graves, secretary of the RGU, arguing that it is this which helps explain RGU's success at developing a quality skills-based brand.

It is a lineage which gives RGU a unique flavour. Its central buildings stand in the middle of booming Aberdeen on School Hill. A gothic facade gives it all the necessary aura of a Victorian redbrick. In 1750, Robert Gordon, an Aberdonian who built up a merchant business in Danzig (now Gdansk in Poland), left a fortune for the education of boys. This was the seed of Robert Gordon's College - and a school stands today in the campus.

The college went on to incorporate the Aberdeen Mechanics' Institute, Gray's School of Science and Art, and the School of Pharmacy. By 1965, Robert Gordon's Institute of Technology, or RGIT as it was known, represented the founder's ideals in the 20th century. "It already had a long history and a reputation which was the envy of similar colleges," says Prof Stevely.

In the 21st century RGU's mission chimes perfectly with the UK government's efforts to rehabilitate vocational education. David Blunkett, the education secretary, in England is trying to build a "vocational ladder" of qualifications from GCSE to Foundation Degree and overturn centuries of class bias against skills.

In Scotland, the task is arguably less formidable. "It is less of a problem here. I think there is more of a tradition of applied skills," says Prof Stevely. "I think that in this city there is a very positive attitude to both universities. We are about making sure people are well prepared to succeed."

It is significant that the new Foundation Degrees to be introduced in England are not needed in Scotland as the existing vocational qualifications already have the support of employers.

RGU's vocational focus - which flowed from the city's historic associations with engineering - received a huge boost with the discovery of North Sea oil. The current chancellor is Sir Bob Reid, former chairman of Shell UK and London Electricity. He knew of RGU through its early pioneering work in providing certificates of safety training to those working offshore -a qualification known simply as the RGIT. "It's become a trademark symbol - a bit like the Hoover," says Prof Stevely.

However, the RGIT is just the tip of the iceberg. Univation - the RGU's commercial company - now sells training, research and consultancy around the world. It has branch operations in Nigeria and Kazakhstan and offices in Iran, Azerbaijan and Kuwait. It manages a training centre in Warri, Nigeria, giving top-up training to graduate engineers for Shell. In China, it is a partner in the Nanhal Training Centre, delivering oil and gas training to companies. The obvious question is why RGU filled this market and not the illustrious Aberdeen University.

"We have the ability to move faster and we have a more definite vocational focus," says Prof Stevely. Aberdeen, of course, would argue that it moved to provide the quality research needed by the industry in such fields as geology.

RGU has taken the vocational example of oil and gas and spread it throughout the standard university curriculum. Students can study French, but not French literature, and economics, if it is applied. Even undergraduate accountants, hardly involved in a pure academic discipline, get added vocational input with 15 month placements in local businesses.

One of the outstanding examples of vocational training offered at RGU is in its department of pharmacy. As a subject, this has been taught for more than a century at RGU. But the current department - headed by Professor Clare Mackie - has broken new ground in offering students the chance to get real-time experience of patient care. The last Queen's Speech cleared the way for pharmacists to play a bigger role in actually prescribing drugs - after doctors have made a diagnosis.

The RGU centre teaches students how to prescribe by letting them role play using real patients records (carefully disguised). They prescribe after having taken time to look at a patient's life-style, other drugs being taken, and having discussed with them what they really want out of the treatment. "What we are actually doing is simulating practice," says Prof Mackie.

The practical benefits of such a policy are potentially huge. A recent study by Prof Mackie - who used to run a string of pharmacies in Glasgow - showed the effects of so-called "dependent prescribers" on drugs bills. It traced the effects of a review of the medication of 1,600 patients and found an average annual saving of £35.61p per patient.

"These findings have significant implications for improved disease management in clinical practice," said Prof Mackie.

The RGU is already trying to put in place vocational and research disciplines which can help offset the eventual decline of the oil and gas industry. The RGU's Tidal Current Power Group, for example, is undertaking four projects including a E750,000 study for the EU on the optimal design of tidal current systems.

Professor Ian Bryden leads the research team and has also won a £50,000 contract from Scottish Enterprise to look at the feasibility of an alternative energy complex in Scottish waters.

"The Pentland Firth is, quite simply, the best resource of its type in the world," says Prof Bryden. He believes tidal currents could provide 20 per cent of the UK's electricity needs.

The RGU also has a new Centre for Open and Distance Learning (CODL) - a facility which could change the face of study for undergraduates as well as trainees accessing one of the university's modular courses.

Its faculty of management has just moved to a new out-of-town campus at Garthdee. This year the RGU offers 300 courses to 10,000 students - including nursing and other health related professional qualifications which neatly complement Aberdeen's medical school.

When David Blunkett looks around for a university which exactly matches his vision of a skill-based institution to rank alongside any academic hothouse he may well decide that Robert Gordon is the best example in the UK.