What would you say...?

To be frank, I think it's better considered in terms of tiers. There's often not much between institutions.

Glasgow, Edinburgh and St A's at the top (although I turned down an uncond. from Glasgow to go to Dundee...)

2nd: Dundee, Aberdeen.

3rd: Strathy, Stirling, Heriot Watt

4th: Abertay, Cally, Napier etc.

5th: Paisley. That is all.

Obviously I've completely missed some out, but oh well...

Reply 2

SmilerNuts

is Paisley really that bad?!
i dunno, its not a great question, no offence, cause it's not like there are hundreds of universities in Scotland so everyone is gonna have the same top 5 at least

Reply 3

michaelnicholson88

To be honest, I'd merge tiers 2 and 3. I'd say Strathclyde in particular has developed an outstanding reputation in the last few years, and each of them is about equal, overall, though of course each is stronger at some things than others.

And if I may add a tier lower than Paisley? The University of the Highlands and Islands!! So bad, I bet you haven't even heard of it!!

Reply 4

oxymoronic

Well in terms of cheap drink, Edinburgh wouldn't be very high up my list. Our cheapest drinks in the unions are £1.50, which is good by Edinburgh pubs standard, but my friends at other universities get 50p or £1 drinks every night. Napier's union has quite cheap drinks though, cheaper than ours.

Reply 5

michaelnicholson88

And if I may add a tier lower than Paisley? The University of the Highlands and Islands!! So bad, I bet you haven't even heard of it!!

I just heard of it the other day there lol :biggrin:

Reply 6

I would agree that Scottish unis generally fit into a tier system, but I would say the notion of ranking unis is a bad idea anyway.

I would say roughly as far as reputation goes -
St A's, Edinburgh and Glasgow - old unis with generally good international reps
Dundee and Aberdeen - old with good national reps
Strathclyde, Stirling, possibly Cali - generally ok allrounders
Heriot Watt, Abertay, QMU - best places to go for certain courses, prob not so hot on more normal degrees
Napier and Paisley - .....how can I put it politely :redface:

I missed out Robert Gordon, but I'm not sure whether it has any particular strengths and I don't think it's as bad as Paisley or Napier.

It's hard to discuss factors students are interested in because students have a lot of different priorities. I mean, I wouldn't rank St Andrews, Edinburgh or Glasgow high as far as campus goes, but many others would. Education definitely depends on the course.

And I've heard of UHI, but I have the excuse of one of its millions of campuses being across the road from my house :biggrin:

Reply 7

IR Postgraduate

I don't think the sample size is large enough to warrant a top ten and too many tiers is unhelpful My view is the following:

Tier 1: St Andrews, Edinburgh
Tier 2: Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee
Tier 3: All the rest

Reply 8

michaelnicholson88

And if I may add a tier lower than Paisley? The University of the Highlands and Islands!! So bad, I bet you haven't even heard of it!!

Does such a fictional-sounding place truly exist?

Reply 9

IR Postgraduate

Would you really rate St Andrews as higher than Glasgow? I wouldn't. Admittedly one is a lot larger and as a consequence may have slightly lower entry requirements - but it's equally a complete university, an ancient one, with a breathtaking central campus.

Reply 10

I wouldn't rate Glasgow as lower than Edinburgh anyway. St. A's tends to have a better snob value, but from a student point of view, people tend to adore Glasgow.

Lib North

Does such a fictional-sounding place truly exist?

Yep - http://www.uhi.ac.uk/
Not a proper uni though, just a collection of colleges and the like with the odd degree here and there.

Reply 11

Acaila

Yep - http://www.uhi.ac.uk/
Not a proper uni though, just a collection of colleges and the like with the odd degree here and there.

You know you're at a brilliant institution when they can't even explain their abbreviations for fear of being accused of misrepresentation.

Reply 12

Just posting this out of interest. THES rates the top 10 Scottish Universities as:

1. Edinburgh
2. St Andrews
3. Glasgow
4. Aberdeen
5. Stirling
6. Strathclyde
7. Dundee
8. Heriot-Watt
9. Robert Gordon
10. Abertay

Reply 13

With what as the criteria?

Reply 14

Lou_

Cirrus

taking all factors students are interested in such as ..... cheap drink etc.

Yep that's very important :p:

Reply 15

Cirrus

No offence intended to Stirling students, but it's a bit crapper than Dundee or Strathclyde.

Reply 16

Well, I thought that, but didn't know what they were ranking them on (and I think Stirling is luffly)

Reply 17

Student satisfaction, Research assessment, Entry standards, Student-staff ratio, Library/computing spend, Facilities spend, Good honours, Graduate prospects and Completion

11 - Edinburgh
18 - St Andrews
28 - Glasgow
36 - Aberdeen
37 - Stirling
40 - Strathclyde
44 - Dundee
48 - Heriot-Watt
56 - Robert Gordon
57 - Abertay

Reply 18

IR Postgraduate

Where did you get this data and what methodology was used to compile the ranking. I know that the Times put out a somewhat anomalous ranking last year, which placed St Andrews surprising low (this was largely attributed to a methodological error as St Andrews is generally in the top ten). Sunday Times, which many consider to be the best methodologically and the most accurate, offer the following scores:

Teaching: St Andrews (67), Glasgow (67), Edinburgh (66)
Student Satisfaction: St Andrews (103), Glasgow (84), Edinburgh (74)
Research: St Andrews (152), Edinburgh (143), Glasgow (121)
Entry: St Andrews (219), Edinburgh (204), Glasgow (203)

It appears that in all the major areas, St Andrews comes out on top. And on the whole St Andrews vs. Glasgow thing: yes, St Andrews is in most ways a better university. I think that convient location, an attractive campus, and a comfortable environment are all things to consider when choosing a university. Based on the statistics and international reputation, though, St Andrews is in a another league to Glasgow. St Andrews draws some of the top students from throughout the world (they have the highest overseas rate in the UK), but the student body at Glasgow is largely Scottish (nothing wrong with being Scottish, but the point is that St Andrews is a very different type of university).

Reply 19