The Guardian University Guide 2023: See how Edinburgh unis rank in the league table

The Guardian’s league table for the best universities in the UK has been published; how did universities in Edinburgh fare?
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The new academic year is underway for many new students across the UK, having made their way to universities across the country through first choice selections or clearing - including Edinburgh.

The Guardian has once again published their annual best UK universities league table, where the newspaper ranks 121 different institutions throughout the country.

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Rather than ranking the universities solely on academic research, The Guardian’s league table for 2023 focuses more on variables such as the standard of  teaching and graduate job prospects. This research is conducted by the annual National Student Survey.

Using this data, they are ranked through nine different scores which form a total out of 100.

How is the best UK universities 2023 league table decided?

This year The Guardian combined 2021 and 2022 NSS results to reflect how universities responded to the pandemic.

The newspaper also looked at how big class sizes are through the student-to-staff ratio and how much universities spend on teaching per student, as well as students’ A-level grades.

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The Guardian also looks at whether a student’s academic performance improves at the university they are attending and how likely they are to continue with their course.

There’s also data on how many students get graduate jobs 15 months after leaving university. For the 2023 table, The Guardian used data from 2018/19 and 2019/20 to minimise the impact of the pandemic, although there is still some disruption relative to earlier cohorts.

Where did Edinburgh universities place in the 2023 league table?

Edinburgh Napier University is one of the largest higher education institutions in Scotland that provides education to over 19,500 students from over 140 countries.Edinburgh Napier University is one of the largest higher education institutions in Scotland that provides education to over 19,500 students from over 140 countries.
Edinburgh Napier University is one of the largest higher education institutions in Scotland that provides education to over 19,500 students from over 140 countries.

In The Guardian’s list of the best UK universities 2023, three of Edinburgh’s universities appeared in the league table.

The University of Edinburgh came top out of the three, placing 12th overall with a score of 81.8 out of 100 and an impressive 97.7 score when first year students were asked if they’d continue their studies there.

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Edinburgh Napier University placed 83rd this year, dropping down from its 2022 position of 73, while Queen Margaret University dropped from 85 to 89 this year.

Queen Margaret University was also one of the lowest scores when it came to money spent on each student, earning a 1.9 out of 10.

Top ten universities according to The Guardian University Guide 2023

The top ten universities, according to The Guardian’s list of the best UK universities 2023, are as follows - Guardian scores are in brackets and are out of a possible 100.

The full list of universities, including the options to look at what courses are rated highly at individual institutions, can be found at The Guardian’s website.

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