The University has improved its position among the top 100 universities in the 2021 THE (Times Higher Education) World University Rankings as well as in the Guardian University Guide 2021.

The University has risen by seven places to 92nd of 1,527 universities in the THE World University Rankings. Its improved position is attributed to its better performance in the Citations pillar of the rankings, which has a weighting of 30%. Glasgow also showed improvements in both the Research and Teaching reputation metrics which are weighted at 18% and 15% respectively. The seven-place climb in THE is the highest rise of any UK university within the top 100 this year.

The Principal, Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli, said: “Our improved ranking in the 2021 THE World Rankings – widely acknowledged as one of the most significant and respected league tables in the global higher education environment – is a tribute to all our staff who work so hard to make this a world-class teaching and research institution as well as a fantastic student environment. My thanks go to everyone across the University for playing their part in making Glasgow a top World 100 University.”

The University’s rating for International Outlook, weighted at 7.5%, has also improved: this category measures the percentage of international staff and students and international co-authorship.

Rachel Sandison, Vice Principal External Relations, said: “THE World University Rankings are an important indicator of universities’ global performance. They measure performance across teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. I am delighted that Glasgow’s standing in the global higher education arena has been endorsed yet again in what is an increasingly competitive environment.”

The Guardian University Guide, which published its new rankings on Saturday, 5 September, for 2021, now ranks the University of Glasgow at 12th, up by two places from 14th in 2020.  This is UofG's best position yet. In the Russell Group we ranked 8th for the second year in a row and in Scotland we ranked 2nd for the fourth year in a row.

There were two key changes in methodology for the Guardian University Guide this year:

  • The Career Prospects metric used data from the Graduate Outcomes survey (DLHE replacement)
  • NSS data merged over two years. As the Guardian was published later this year, after NSS 2020, they did not want to ignore the voices of students from NSS 2019 in the previous year. 

 Some highlights:

  • Our rank position improved for Spend per Student, Student Staff Ratio and Entry Tariff though we had decreases for Value Added, NSS Teaching Satisfaction and Career Prospects. 
  • We now have 11 subjects with a Top 5 ranking as opposed to 7 in 2020 though we do not have any ranked 1st now. 

Subjects with a Top 5 ranking:

  • Accounting & Finance 2nd (up 4 places)
  • Film production & Photography  3rd (up 2)
  • History & History of Art 3rd (up 2)
  • Social Policy & Administration 3rd (up 15)
  • Veterinary Science 3rd (down 1)
  • Dentistry 4th (up 2)
  • Forensic Science & Archaeology 4th (up 7)
  • Geography & Environmental Studies 5th (up 3)
  • Law 5th (up 1)
  • Nursery & Midwifery 5th (down 2)
  • Religious Studies & Theology 5th (down 2)

 

 

 

First published: 2 September 2020

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