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:
.jpeg?crop=4:3&trim=&width=800)
5. University of Strathclyde
Strathclyde University, based in Glasgow, was ranked 5th out of the Scottish schools, and 17th overall in the UK. The Guardian gave it a score of 67.2 out of 100. | Adobe Stock
6. Glasgow Caledonian University
Another Glasgow-based university to perform well in The Guardian’s rankings, Glasgow Caledonian came 6th for Scotland, and 46th overall - with a score of 59.7 out of 100. | Google
7. University of Dundee
Next up is Dundee, in 7th place for Scotland. Overall, it ranked 52nd - with The Guardian giving it a score of 58.6 out of 100. | Google
8. Heriot-Watt University
Based on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt was the 8th most highly ranked Scottish university. Overall it came in 66th, with The Guardian giving it a score of 55 out of 100. | Google