The Principal has welcomed this year's NSS rankings as an outstanding result for the University of Glasgow.

Despite a decrease year on year, overall satisfaction for Glasgow continues to exceed all sector, Russell Group and Scotland averages.

Professor Anton Muscatelli, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Glasgow, said: “I am absolutely delighted that the University of Glasgow has been rated number one in Scotland, and as one of the very top universities across the UK by our students. This is another outstanding result for Glasgow and underlines the importance that everyone at the University places on ensuring that our students enjoy a brilliant learning experience, world class teaching and support and access to some of the best facilities anywhere in Britain.”

Summary/Highlights

  • University of Glasgow is joint top in Scotland for Overall Satisfaction.
  • Despite a decrease year on year, overall satisfaction for Glasgow continues to exceed all sector, Russell Group and Scotland averages.
  • Both Russell Group and Scottish University comparator groups have decreased overall satisfaction year on year. However, the whole sector has increased overall satisfaction, and along with Scottish Institutions, has increased on all other questions (Q1-21, 23)
  • Glasgow continues to exceed all comparator groups for all teaching questions however, Glasgow has decreased across questions 1-3 whilst all comparator groups have improved.
  • Similarly for Assessment and Feedback – All comparator groups have made improvements in this area, particularly on Questions 7 and 9 (Feedback has been prompt and Feedback has helped me clarify things I did not understand) whilst Glasgow has continued to decrease year on year.
  • Glasgow has maintained improvement for Q10 and Q12 (Sufficient advice and support with my studies and Good advice for study choices), particularly outperforming sector comparators for Q10.
  • Respectable increases have been made by Glasgow in Organisation & Management, specifically in Q13 (Timetable works efficiently) and Q14 (Changes to course communicated). This has meant an outperformance of the Sector and Scottish institutions, but not for Russell Group.
  • Increases have been made year on year across the sector and Russell Group for Personal Development, and Glasgow has done the same. Learning Resources followed similar patterns,  Glasgow has slipped slightly, except for Q17 – Able to access general IT resources.

Subject Rankings
(non-specialist institutions)

  • UK - Glasgow is top or joint top in the UK for 6 subject areas: Archaeology, Celtic Studies, Comparative Literary Studies, Genetics, Music and Teacher Training.
  • Russell Group – 11 subject areas: Archaeology, Celtic Studies, Comparative Literary Studies, Genetics, Initial Teacher Training, Music, Nursing, Others in Biological Science, Others in Creative Arts and Design, Others in Historical and Philosophical studies and Teacher Training
  • Scotland – 12 subject areas: Archaeology, Biology, Celtic Studies, Comparative Literary Studies, Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Genetics, Music, Nursing, Others in Biological Science, Psychology, Teacher Training, Veterinary Sciences.

Overall rankings
(non-specialist institutions)

University of Glasgow is:

  • Joint top in Scotland with the University of Dundee following a 4% pts decrease year on year by St Andrews.
  • Joint third in the Russell Group with Cardiff, Leeds, Sheffield, Cambridge, Durham and Exeter. Newcastle and Oxford share the top spot.
  • Joint thirteenth of all UK Higher Education institutions (excluding FE, Specialist and Independent). There has been a fair amount of movement in the table, with non-Russell Group universities making strides up the table.

Thanks to the Central Survey Unit, Planning and Business Intelligence team for the analysis. If you have questions or want more information, you can contact the Head of the Unit -  Kirsty.Scanlan@glasgow.ac.uk

First published: 14 August 2015

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