This year’s National Student Survey (NSS) rankings put the University of Glasgow in joint third position in Scotland and joint 24th among all UK higher education institutes, excluding specialist and private providers. The University is joint 7th in the Russell Group.

A statement from the University said: "The delivery of an outstanding student experience is one of the defining characteristics of the University of Glasgow and we are pleased that we have continued to be rated amongst the leading universities in both Scotland and the UK in the National Student Survey. In particular, we are delighted that the excellence of the teaching delivered at Glasgow is recognised within the NSS. World class teaching and learning is at the very heart of the Glasgow experience and is delivered in increasingly state of the art facilities. Over the past few years we have invested heavily in in our buildings and infrastructure including in IT, in our library, our sports centre and in the Glasgow University Union. Over the next decade we expect to spend up to a billion pounds further developing our campus. In all that we do our students come first."

Analysis from the University's Planning and Business Intelligence Unit  with thanks to Kirsty Scanlan 

  • Despite a continued 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 again decreased overall satisfaction year on year. However, the whole sector remained flat year on year.
  • Glasgow is now joint 3rd in Scotland, joint 7th in the Russell Group and joint 24th amongst all HEIs (excluding specialist and private providers)
  • Glasgow continues to exceed all comparator groups for all teaching questions with a slight decreasing trend across all comparators. 
  • Similarly for Assessment and Feedback – All comparator groups have made improvements in this area, with the exception of ‘Assessment arrangements have been fair’. Glasgow fell back further on that measure than comparators, and has not made the levels of improvement in line with comparators.
  • Glasgow has decreased year on year for both measures in Academic Support, with a significantly larger decrease than the comparators for ‘Sufficient advice and support’.
  • Organisation & Management have fallen year on year, which is not following the trend of the sector. Russell Group and Scottish institutions have seen patchy performance, however Glasgow has decreased more significantly than comparators.
  • Learning Resources measures have all improved for sector and for Scottish institutions, with Russell Group falling slightly year on year – as has Glasgow.

Subject Rankings - for non-specialist institutions

UK - Glasgow is top or joint top in the UK for 2 subject areas: Theology & Religious Studies and Veterinary Sciences. This has decreased from 6 in 2015.

  • Russell Group – 6 subject areas: Agriculture and others in Veterinary Sciences and related subjects, Classics, Nursing, Teacher Training, Theology & Religious Studies and Veterinary Sciences. This has decreased from 11 in 2015.
  • Scotland – 12 subject areas: Agriculture and others in Veterinary Sciences and related subjects, Animal Science, Archaeology, Celtic Studies, Dentistry, Drama, Finance, Genetics, History, Microbiology, Teacher Training, Theology & Religious Studies and Veterinary Sciences.

First published: 16 August 2016

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