The University of St Andrews has retained its status as the top Scots university in a newly published league table.
The Fife university was ranked third across the UK for a second successive year in the 2021 Complete University Guide Main League Table.
Cambridge topped the UK table of 130 universities and has now held the top spot for ten years, with Oxford second.
However the University of St Andrews was the only establishment in the top three to be judged on student satisfaction. It came top of the class.
Meanwhile the University of Glasgow joined the University of Dundee in heading the medicine rankings in the newly published guide.
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Welcoming the news, St Andrews’ principal, Professor Sally Mapstone, said: “These are encouraging and very cheering results for St Andrews and a testament to the hard work and commitment of our staff and students across the University.
"For a small Scottish university to be competing amongst the very best says much for the strengths of research-led teaching and student experience on offer at St Andrews.
“It’s an honour to be top in Scotland in such a competitive and high-quality field north of the border. The global strengths of our universities in Fife and Tayside are something of which we should be proud.
“It is, however, vital, at a time of global change and unrest, that St Andrews and other Scottish universities are able to continue to compete on a world stage and use our collective expertise for a better world.
“The future of universities has never been so fragile in light of the current coronavirus pandemic, but this is also a time when universities can demonstrate their true value to society.”
The tables which take into account a range of measures including entry standards, student satisfaction, research quality and graduate prospects had the University of Edinburgh in 15th place, up one place from last year.
The University of Glasgow dropped one place to 19th, while Aberdeen rose three places to 26th and Heriot-Watt climbed six places to 29th, overtaking University of Dundee which was 31st.
Glasgow climbed two places to joint first in the 2021 rankings for medicine while Dundee rose five places.
The Glasgow university said that at a time of huge focus on health, the rankings for medicine and nursing had attracted even more attention than usual.
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Professor Dame Anna Dominiczak, vice-principal and head of the college of medical, veterinary and life sciences, said: “Never before has there been such recognition of the need for universities to train excellent doctors and nurses.
"The University of Glasgow’s College of MVLS is making a huge contribution to the UK’s response to the coronavirus pandemic – through our world-leading research and collaboration with partners in delivering a testing centre at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, to name just a few areas.
“However, it has always been a priority for the University to train doctors and nurses who have the ability to make a real difference in the health of the nation and I am delighted to see external acknowledgement of our work in this area.”
In the overall standings, the University of Strathclyde climbed four positions to be equal 35th while the University of Stirling dropped two positions to finish 45th.
Robert Gordon University was the highest climbing Scots establishment in the rankings, rising 13 spots to become equal 72nd, while Edinburgh Napier climbed nine spots to become equal 77th.
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While the Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh dropped seven spots to become equal 75th, Glasgow Caledonian dropped 11 positions to rank 88th and Abertay rose seven places to 96th.
The University of the West of Scotland was the lowest ranked Scottish university, ranked equal 109th, down from 104th in the last annual survey.
The rankings are based on ten measures, also including student-staff ratio, spending on academic services, expenditure on student facilities, good honours degrees, and completion.
The most significant climb seen in the top 30 was Kings’ College London which rose five places, breaking its way into the top 20.
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