City university ranked among country's best

Published on Thursday 19 June 2008 10:32

EDINBURGH University has been named the second best Scottish university in a league table of higher education institutions.

The Times Good University Guide places the university 18th in the UK – but it is down five places from last year.

St Andrews tops the Scottish list, with the institution ranked fifth in the UK, which is the same as last year.

It lies behind Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College London and the London School of Economics.

Heriot-Watt was ranked 47th in the university guide – down two places from the previous year – while Queen Margaret slipped ten places, coming joint 68th place with Glasgow Caledonian.

According to the guide, the most progress in the last year has been made by Glasgow University, which has jumped from 31st to 20th in the table.

Dr Brian Lang, principal of St Andrews, said: "It is a mark of the quality and competitiveness of Scottish teaching and research that we have three institutions established in the UK top 20, despite the increased spending power of English universities."