More distinctively Scottish than its rivals in Edinburgh or St Andrews, almost half of Glasgow’s students come from within 30 miles of the city and three quarters are from north of the border.

There was a high proportion of home-based students long before the city became fashionable, but the university also attracts students from some 120 countries.

They seem to enjoy the experience, voting Glasgow second in the UK in the independent International Student Barometer. British students are also pretty satisfied – Glasgow was in the top 30 in the National Student Survey published in 2008, with geology and biology registering 100 per cent satisfaction levels and computer science only a whisker away.

Glasgow enjoys the rare distinction of having been established by Papal Bull, and began its existence in the Chapter House of Glasgow Cathedral in 1451.

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Since 1871 it has been based next to Kelvingrove Park in the city’s fashionable west end on the Gilmorehill campus, with its 104 listed buildings – more than any other British university. A major addition, opened in 2002, houses the prestigious medical school, while a £15-million cancer research centre followed in late 2006.

Education occupies a separate campus nearby, while the Vet School and outdoor sports facilities are located at Garscube, four miles away. The innovative Crichton College campus in Dumfries is taking higher education to southwest Scotland with liberal arts and teacher education degrees. A new student centre opened on the Gilmorehill site in 2008, with student services and catering facilities, while a £18-million small animal hospital for the Vet School is opening in 2009. The environmental research building has won awards as one of the “greenest” in Scotland.

Outward-looking

Glasgow has adopted an increasingly outward-looking style in recent years, marked by the launch of the Commonwealth Scholarship scheme in 2008, which celebrates the city’s success as host of the 2014 Commonwealth Games by offering 53 students from developing countries the chance to study at the university. A “synergy” agreement with neighbouring Strathclyde University involves teaching and research partnerships, the latest establishing a joint department of naval architecture and marine engineering.

Not that Glasgow is a stranger to innovation: it was the first university in Britain to have a school of engineering, for example, and the first in Scotland to have a computer. Today it is a member of the Russell Group of 20 leading research universities. More than half of the work submitted for the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise was considered ‘world-leading’ or internationally excellent. Art history was the most highly-rated in the UK and the Vet School joint top in its field, with 14 subjects showing the best results in Scotland.

Almost half of the university’s applications are for Arts or Sciences degrees, reflecting the popularity of a flexible system of study where students can delay choosing which subject within Arts or Science to specialise in until the end of their second year. Total applications were up by more than 14 per cent at the start of 2009, the biggest increase in Scotland.

Overseas recruitment has remained strong, as Glasgow has moved into the top 75 in the Times Higher Education/QS world university rankings. But the home market has not been overlooked. The Club 21 programme, which provides students with paid work experience placements, involves more than 100 employers from Abbey to T-Mobile, some of whom sponsor undergraduates at £1,000 a year, as part of an arrangement to forge closer links with local business.

Access

Over a fifth of the students are from working-class homes.The university operates a number of access initiatives, including the Top Up programme, which has been working with schools in the West of Scotland since 1999, and the Talent Awards, 50 annual awards of £1000 per annum for academically able entrants who could face financial difficulties in taking up a place at Glasgow.

Most students like the combination of campus and city life, with the relatively low cost of living an added attraction – the city has been rated among the most cost-effective in which to study. But the dropout rate of more than 13 per cent is above the average for the subjects on offer and entry qualifications. Undergraduates have the choice of two students’ unions, with more than 100 clubs and societies, plus a sports union supporting 46 different clubs and activities.

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