News     Views     Culture     Features

The University of Glasgow has fallen behind Scottish rivals in The Times’ latest University rankings.

The University of Glasgow has fallen four places on last year in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, placing them one spot behind rivals the University of Aberdeen. This year’s guide has placed Glasgow 16th place in Britain, plummeting from 12th place last year. This places Glasgow as the third highest rated University in Scotland according to the league table, behind the University of St. Andrews in second place and the University of Aberdeen in 15th, having risen four places since last year. Despite this the University managed to emerge one position ahead of the University of Edinburgh which similarly fell four places from last year.

The rankings took into consideration a number of factors including research quality, student experience, and rates of first and upper-second class honours. HESA data published earlier this year showed a trend of grade inflation at a number of British Universities, including the University of Glasgow where the share of first-class degrees awarded to new graduates has skyrocketed from under 20% in the 2014/15 session to over 30% in 2021/22. 

The rankings also took into consideration less common metrics such as “people and planet” for which the University was given an abysmal 34 percent score. This comes after the release of last year’s People and Planet league table which measures University’s sustainability and environmental impact, which placed Glasgow 110th in Britain. 

However, it wasn’t all bad news for the University with regards to its rankings. In the 2025 iteration of the Times Higher Education world university rankings, widely regarded as the most influential in the industry, the University of Glasgow maintained its ranking of 87th.  

This news comes after the resignation of former Principal of the University Anton Muscatelli after sixteen years, and the appointment of a new Principal: Andy Schofield. Muscatelli’s tenure as Principal and Vice-Chancellor is widely regarded as transformative for the University, with explosive growth in student numbers as well as a supercharged research output which gained the University recognition and facilitated a rise in league tables. 

Andy Schofield is yet to make an official statement to students and staff but commenting on his appointment he said: “It is a great honour to have been appointed as the next Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Glasgow.  Glasgow is an impressive, world-changing institution which has made huge strides under Sir Anton’s leadership.  I very much look forward to building on his legacy and working with a brilliant set of colleagues to take the University forward.”

Published 10 October 2024