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Ranking Scottish unis from best to worst (to prove a point)

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Reply 40
Despite the fact RGU isn't even making it onto all the lists!!! Should definitely be top tier! 😂
Only one I can really comment on but it's a great uni with lots of support, good facilities and often boasts a good graduate employment rate. Doesn't really even get any good recognition it deserves tho tbh!
Reply 41
Strathclyde Engineering and Business School are better than Glasgow and Edinburgh tbh should be tier 1, St Andrews doesn’t even have Engineering
My opinion:

Tier 1: St. Andrews and Edinburgh (leagues ahead of all the other Scottish universities imo)
Tier 2: Glasgow and Strathclyde
Tier 3: Aberdeen, Dundee and Heriot-Watt
Tier 4: Stirling and RGU
Tier 5: Napier, Caledonian and Abertay
Tier 6: West of Scotland, Queen Margaret and Highlands and Islands

Original post by TB2000
Strathclyde Engineering and Business School are better than Glasgow and Edinburgh tbh should be tier 1, St Andrews doesn’t even have Engineering


lol wut?
Original post by ScotBank16
My opinion:

Tier 1: St. Andrews and Edinburgh (leagues ahead of all the other Scottish universities imo)
Tier 2: Glasgow and Strathclyde
Tier 3: Aberdeen, Dundee and Heriot-Watt
Tier 4: Stirling and RGU
Tier 5: Napier, Caledonian and Abertay
Tier 6: West of Scotland, Queen Margaret and Highlands and Islands



lol wut?


Glasgow is a Russell-Group uni and should be tier 1
Original post by SocialStudiesETC
Glasgow is a Russell-Group uni and should be tier 1


Don't really care for RG status tbh when it's got the likes of QUB and Liverpool in it.

By reputation of the whole UK, I don't think Glasgow can compete against Edin and St. As. It's a strong university nevertheless though.
Reply 45
You could, if you were of a mind, rank them by long term earnings outcomes:

1. St Andrews : £31,864 median earnings 5 years after graduation
2. Edinburgh : £31,530
3. Aberdeen : £29,988
4. Glasgow : £29,467
5. Robert Gordon : £28,682
6. Heriot-Watt : £27,190
7. Strathclyde : £27,094
8. Dundee : £26,082
9. Highlands and Islands : £25,967
10. Stirling : £25,179
11. Glasgow Caledonian : £25,000
12. Edinburgh Napier : £24,540
13. West of Scotland : £23,569
14. Queen Margaret, Edinburgh : £23,267
15. Abertay Dundee : £23,125

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/graduate-outcomes-for-all-subjects-by-university
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by Doonesbury
You could, if you were of a mind, rank them by long term earnings outcomes:

1. St Andrews : £31,864 median earnings 5 years after graduation
2. Edinburgh : £31,530
3. Aberdeen : £29,988
4. Glasgow : £29,467
5. Robert Gordon : £28,682
6. Heriot-Watt : £27,190
7. Strathclyde : £27,094
8. Dundee : £26,082
9. Highlands and Islands : £25,967
10. Stirling : £25,179
11. Glasgow Caledonian : £25,000
12. Edinburgh Napier : £24,540
13. West of Scotland : £23,569
14. Queen Margaret, Edinburgh : £23,267
15. Abertay Dundee : £23,125

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/graduate-outcomes-for-all-subjects-by-university


Or you could rank them by their Scandinavian languages offering (a much better metric than earnings, to be sure):

1. Edinburgh
2. Aberdeen
3. Highlands and Islands
0. St Andrews
0. Glasgow
0. Robert Gordon
0. Heriot-Watt
0. Strathclyde
0. Dundee
0. Stirling
0. Glasgow Caledonian
0. Edinburgh Napier
0. West of Scotland
0. Queen Margaret, Edinburgh
0. Abertay Dundee
Reply 47
Original post by Snufkin
Or you could rank them by their Scandinavian languages offering (a much better metric than earnings, to be sure):

1. Edinburgh
2. Aberdeen
3. Highlands and Islands
0. St Andrews
0. Glasgow
0. Robert Gordon
0. Heriot-Watt
0. Strathclyde
0. Dundee
0. Stirling
0. Glasgow Caledonian
0. Edinburgh Napier
0. West of Scotland
0. Queen Margaret, Edinburgh
0. Abertay Dundee


Somebody need to update/expand the Duck Density ranking.
http://duckdensity.org.uk/uni_index.php?sortby=duckdensity&reverse=yes

Only 1 Scottish uni gets a quack at it.
Original post by Doonesbury
Somebody need to update/expand the Duck Density ranking.
http://duckdensity.org.uk/uni_index.php?sortby=duckdensity&reverse=yes

Only 1 Scottish uni gets a quack at it.


DUCKS! :loveduck: Aberdeen is clearly the best then, even if they only do Swedish. :grumble:
Reply 49
Original post by Snufkin
Or you could rank them by their Scandinavian languages offering (a much better metric than earnings, to be sure):

1. Edinburgh
2. Aberdeen
3. Highlands and Islands
0. St Andrews
0. Glasgow
0. Robert Gordon
0. Heriot-Watt
0. Strathclyde
0. Dundee
0. Stirling
0. Glasgow Caledonian
0. Edinburgh Napier
0. West of Scotland
0. Queen Margaret, Edinburgh
0. Abertay Dundee


I like your way of thinking (particularly having taught in one of these modules the past semester :wink: ).

I think the duck density thing needs some more work, I've had ducks outside my office quite a few times, and yet we're not on the list. Hmmm.
1: St As and Edin
2: Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen
3. Heriot watt and Strathclyde
4. the rest
Why is Strathclyde often put into a different tier than Stirling in this thread? They are joint in The Complete University Guide, Stirling are in front of Strathclyde in the Guardian, in front of Strathclyde in Times Higher Education and Strathclyde in front of Stirling in QS. Where’s the difference?
Its probably because strathclyde does so well in individual subject rankings. League tables dont always represent how good a university is. If you look at entry standards strathclyde has the 5th highest so it is obviously a popular choice which is why people may view it as a better university. Nonetheless Stirling is still a good uni and is probably better than strathclyde for some subjects.
id probably
tier 1: St andrew and edinburgh
tier 2: Glasgow and Strathclyde
tier 4: Aberdeen and Heriott watt
tier 5: Dundee and Stirling
the rest

Obviously for many subjects these ranks wouldnt apply. For example, for engineering/ business glasgow and strathclyde would be better than ed or St andrews. Most are good unis anyway so if one is more convenient than the other it probably wouldnt make a big difference in career prospects.
Original post by Jamiehm99
Why is Strathclyde often put into a different tier than Stirling in this thread? They are joint in The Complete University Guide, Stirling are in front of Strathclyde in the Guardian, in front of Strathclyde in Times Higher Education and Strathclyde in front of Stirling in QS. Where’s the difference?
Original post by Ambry
For me (from my experiences visiting the universities and seeing the type of students that get accepted into these universities) -
Tier 1: Edinburgh, St Andrews, Glasgow
Tier 2: Strathclyde (Strathy is in a tier of its because IN SOME CASES it is better for certain courses than the universities in tier one, although for some subjects like english or history it might even be below the universities in tier 3. Courses like engineering, science and business are extremely strong at Strathclyde, arguably better than Glasgow, Edinburgh etc.)
Tier 3: Aberdeen, Heriot Watt, Dundee.
Tier 4: Glasgow Caledonian, Edinburgh Napier, Stirling, RGU.
Tier 5: Abertay, UWS, Queen Margaret, UHI.

This can change a lot depending on the course offered.
University ranking systems are pretty flawed in general, and I think the difference between universities in the top ten (and even the top twenty) is pretty minimal. Ranking universities into tiers, or looking at specific courses, seems to be more beneficial than determining which university is number one, number two or number three...


All depends on the course, I chose my course based on the city and how I can balance work and study, makes life a whole lot easier when commuting is taken out of the equation.
Original post by Anonymous
Its probably because strathclyde does so well in individual subject rankings. League tables dont always represent how good a university is. If you look at entry standards strathclyde has the 5th highest so it is obviously a popular choice which is why people may view it as a better university. Nonetheless Stirling is still a good uni and is probably better than strathclyde for some subjects.
id probably
tier 1: St andrew and edinburgh
tier 2: Glasgow and Strathclyde
tier 4: Aberdeen and Heriott watt
tier 5: Dundee and Stirling
the rest

Obviously for many subjects these ranks wouldnt apply. For example, for engineering/ business glasgow and strathclyde would be better than ed or St andrews. Most are good unis anyway so if one is more convenient than the other it probably wouldnt make a big difference in career prospects.

I would agree, but some unis just have very different departments for the same course, for example; strathclyde had a civil eng dept geared heavily towards environmental engineering, and edinburgh had its, going more towards structural and had some pretty cool fire labs as well
1) St Andrews, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen
2) Dundee, Strathclyde, Heriot-Watt
3) Stirling, RGU
4) Napier, Abertay, Caledonia, Queen Margaret
5) West of Scotland, Highlands and Islands
(edited 5 years ago)
tier 1
St Andrews
Edinburgh

tier 2
Glasgow
Strathclyde

tier 3
Aberdeen
Dundee
Heriott watt

tier 4
Stirling

the rest

I added steps to the ranking because they are of a similar level so for most courses the universities would be equal but for the likes of st andrews, glasgow and aberdeen they would still be considered slightly better over all within their tier.
It depends on your course tbh. Some are more prestegious than others and have higher entry requirements but doesn't mean they're better. I spoke to a doctor and she said it's known that Glasgow is the best for medicine so she studied there and she said it turns out it actually wasn't the best. As for unrecognised universities like Robert Gordon and abertay, abertay has one of the best courses in computer games in Europe.
Tier 1: St. Andrews, Edinburgh (#20 - 100)

Tier 1b: Glasgow (#90-100)

Tier 2: Aberdeen (#140 - 200)

Tier 3: Strath, Dundee, HW (#250 - 400)

Tier 4: Everyone else. (??)


Going by average global rankings from THE, QS, AWRU, and CWTS.
Reply 59
For 2024 I’d definitely have it as
Tier1:
Edinburgh and St Andrews
Tier2:
Glasgow and Strathclyde
Tier3:
Dundee, Aberdeen, Stirling, Herriot watt
Tier4:
Napier, Glasgow cali, RGU
Tier5:
QMU, Abertay, UHI, UWS
(edited 5 months ago)

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