Edinburgh University named second best in Scotland but drops three places in UK table

The University of Edinburgh has come in second place behind the University of St Andrews in The University Complete Guide league table for 2025.

Two Edinburgh Universities made the top 50, with Heriot-Watt named alongside Edinburgh Uni, and Edinburgh Napier as well as the capital’s Queen Margaret University making it into the top 100.

However, Edinburgh Univeristy dropped down the UK wide league table by three places from last year, coming in at 15 for 2025.

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St Andrews put in an excellent performance by maintaining their top five spot in the UK, placing at number four behind first placed Cambridge which topped the board in first place. Meanwhile Oxford is in second place and London School of Economics came in third.

Although Edinburgh was unable to supplant St Andrews as the best university in Scotland, the capital institution was able to outscore them in both the ‘Research Quality’ category and the ‘Student to Staff Ratio.’

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Heriot-Watt University was sixth in Scotland but was able to climb four places, up to 40 from 44 last year, and Napier University was 10 in Scotland but was also able to improve on last year, moving up three places to 86 in the UK.

Queen Margaret University was one spot behind Napier at 87 and was 11 overall in the county.

For those looking to stay in Scotland for their studies next year, Glasgow came in third place in Scotland (29 UK); University of Strathclyde in fourth (33 UK); the University of Aberdeen in fifth (40 UK); University of Dundee was seventh (52 UK); University of Stirling eighth (54); Glasgow Caledonian University ninth (74); Robert Gordon University in at 11 (94); Abertay University 12 (99 UK) and finally University of the West of Scotland at 13 (128 UK).

The University Complete Guide said: “Our league tables rank the best universities in the UK, overall and in 74 subject areas. Knowing how best to choose your future university can be tough. Our league tables can help by showing you the top universities in the UK and allowing you to sort them by what’s important to you.

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“See the university rankings for your chosen subject and then filter by region, entry standards, student satisfaction, graduate prospects, and more. By comparing universities using our filters and your chosen metrics, you can start to get a clear picture of which one is the right one for you.”

To view the the rankings in full, including for subject related data, click here.