High and secondary school students now only have about two months to cram in revision before the summer exam season - with the grades they get likely to have a big impact on university offers.
A few months ago, The Guardian released its new university league table for the 2025 academic year. It gave most of the UK’s 160-odd universities an overall score out of 100 based on a range of different metrics, ranking them in the process.
The complex measure it used included current student’s satisfaction with both teaching and feedback, the school’s staff-to-student ratio, how much money the institution spends per student, the average UCAS entry score for new starters accepted into the university, the percentage of first year students continuing on to their second year of study - and even graduate career prospects. A few schools didn’t appear in the overall rankings, which the paper says is due to not enough data being available.
We’ve taken a look at how Scotland’s universities fared, as many students currently preparing for their Highers - which begin on April 25 - look ahead to starting university later this year. Using The Guardian’s scores, we’ve ranked the country’s top performers - including only those which got marks of higher than 50.
University is free for Scottish students in Scotland, but the rankings showed those wanting to save a little money by studying close to hope still have plenty of wonderful options. However, it is also worth keeping in mind that a low score overall doesn’t mean that university is a bad place to study. The Guardian says that different universities’ rankings can jump around year-on-year based on factors like additional funding. Universities with lower overall rankings also sometimes rank highly for specific subjects or courses.
Here were the 11 that made the grade:
1. University of St Andrews
Taking out Scotland’s top spot for 2025, this prestigious institution in St Andrews, Fife, is Scotland’s oldest university - and is also thought to also be one of the oldest English-speaking universities in the world. It was ranked 2nd overall across the UK, with The Guardian giving it an exceptional score of 98.6 out of 100. | Peter Thompson/Heritage Images/Getty Images
2. University of Aberdeen
Another historic university, Aberdeen came in second place for Scotland, and was ranked 12th overall in the UK. The Guardian gave it a score of 73.3 out of 100. | Adobe Stock
3. University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is Scotland’s third highest-ranking university. It ranked 14th overall across the UK, with The Guardian giving it a score of 68.9 out of 100. | Fabian Bleh/Wirestock Creators/Adobe Stock
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4. University of Edinburgh
Just behind it came the capital’s namesake institution, which was ranked 15th overall in the UK. The Guardian gave it a score of 68.4 out of 100. | Adobe Stock