UWS in Summary

High ranking

  • In the top 600 universities in Times Higher Education 2020 World University Rankings (source: The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2020)
  • In the top 130 in Times Higher Education’s Young University Rankings 2021 (source: The Times Higher Education Young University Rankings 2021)
  • A top 100 UK university and the highest ranked modern university in Scotland (source: The Times/The Sunday Times Good University Guide, 2019)
  • Education at UWS was ranked 2nd in the UK overall, & 1st in the UK for teaching quality and 1st in Scotland for student experience (source: The Times / The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2019)*
  • Education at UWS was ranked 2nd in the UK overall & 1st in Scotland for student satisfaction (source: The Complete University Guide 2019)*
  • Education at UWS was ranked 2nd in Scotland for satisfaction (source: The Guardian University Guide 2019)*
  • UWS was ranked at No. 3 in Scotland for student experience and teaching quality (source: Times/The Sunday Times Good University Guide, 2019)
  • Top in the UK - 100% Overall Student Satisfaction in the National Student Survey 2018 for bachelor degree studies in Aircraft Engineering, Civil Engineering, Midwifery, Applied Bioscience, Childhood Practice

* this ranking was achieved for our undergraduate course in initial teacher training

Times Higher University (THE) Young University Rankings 2021 - 1000x525 Card

Annual Review 2019

The 2018-19 session has been another period of tremendous achievement for UWS. The most notable event in 2019 was the official opening of our £110million Lanarkshire Campus by the First Minister of Scotland, the Rt. Hon. Nicola Sturgeon MSP. Our fantastic new campus took first prize in the Guardian University Awards 2019 in the “Sustainable Buildings that Inspire” category, testament to our commitment to creating a benchmark building for UK Higher Education. We also retained our ranking as one of the top 150 universities under fifty years of age in Times Higher Education’s Young University Rankings 2019, and were recognised by THE as being in their top 500 universities in their global university rankings 2019.

Download our 2019 Annual Review (pdf)

UWS in numbers

Success story

  • 95.5% of UWS graduates are in work or further study six months after graduating (source: Higher Education Statistics Agency, 2016/17)
  • £8.2m awarded to UWS research projects in 2017/18

A diverse demographic

  • 19,000 students in 2018/19
  • From Ireland to India, from the Seychelles to Singapore – our students are drawn from 141 different nationalities
  • 1760 students engaged in UWS trans-national education initiatives studying UWS degrees in-country

Satisfied students

  • 85% of final year undergraduates were satisfied with their experience (source: National Student Survey, 2018)
  • 89.6% of students were satisfied with their experience (source: iGraduate Student Barometer, 2018)
  • 93.6% of international students were satisfied with UWS’s International Student Support (source: iGraduate Student Barometer, 2018)
  • 92.8% students agreed "I have had the right opportunities to work with other students as part of my course" - highest rating in Scotland (source: National Student Survey, 2018)
  • 86.2% students agreed "my course has challenged me to achieve my best work" - highest rating in Scotland (source: National Student Survey 2018
  • 100% Overall Student Satisfaction for bachelor degree studies in Aircraft Engineering, Civil Engineering, Midwifery, Applied Bioscience, Childhood Practice (source: National Student Survey, 2018)
  • In addition, the following subjects scored over 90% student satisfaction in Accounting, Community Education, Education, Integrated Health & Social Care, Law & Business, Marketing, Music Technology, Pre-registration Adult Nursing, Science, Psychology, Sport Coaching, Sport & Exercise Science, Web & Mobile Development (source: National Student Survey 2018)

Sector-leading learning environments

  • £100m+ investment in our award-winning* Lanarkshire Campus, including 250,000 sq ft of carbon-neutral buildings

* UWS Lanarkshire Campus was winner of The Guardian University Awards 2019 in the Sustainable Buildings that Inspire category.

Helping Industry & Commerce

  • 20% of completed Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) projects are graded as Outstanding by Innovate UK (double the UK average)
  • No. 1 in Scotland for the number and value of KTP bids submitted (39 bids worth £8M since November 2017)
  • 90% KTP bid success rate over 10 year period

Strengthening Scotland

  • £537.8m – value of UWS to the Scottish economy (Source: Biggar Economics, Socio-economic Impact of UWS 2014)
  • 5,197 Scottish jobs supported by UWS
  • £443million – estimated value of the new Lanarkshire Campus to the local economy over 25 years

Promoting participation

  • UWS continues to be the leading institution in Scotland for recruitment from SIMD20 areas: 27.7% of our students come from Scotland's most deprived communities (note: figures for 2017/18 of all Scottish-domiciled undergraduate entrants)
  • In 2017/18 1,237 students articulated with advanced standing (where a student gets full academic credit for prior learning), which is the highest number in Scotland
Times Higher Education Rankings 2020 full width image.
Last updated: 14/05/2019