Dundee is Scottish University of the Year

The University of Dundee has been named Scottish University of the Year in the 2025 edition of the Daily Mail University Guide, published this weekend.

Alastair McCall, editor of the Daily Mail University Guide, said, “For its outstanding performance in our latest ranking and long-standing and impactful policies that put students first, Dundee is the Daily Mail Scottish University of the Year.”

The announcement comes as the University welcomes new and returning students from around the world for the start of the 2024-25 academic year.

Professor Iain Gillespie, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University, said, “This is tremendous news to start the academic year and something which our students and staff can proudly shout to their families, friends and colleagues – I am at Scotland’s University of the Year!

“We place great emphasis on creating a great student experience, on providing top-class learning and teaching in a welcoming and stimulating environment, and in creating ever greater opportunities to access a university education. That this has been recognised with this award is great for all of our people who work so hard to deliver that for our students.”

Manaswi Budhathoki (Manu), President of Dundee University Students Association, said, “The students help make a university what it is, so for Dundee to be named Scottish University of the Year is brilliant news for all of us. 

“We already know that Dundee is a great place to be a student and we are always ready to shout about it. The close-knit community, support, and the welcoming people are some of the things that makes Dundee so special. We will certainly be encouraging even more people to come to Dundee!”

Dundee placed 10th in the overall UK league table.

Alastair McCall added, “Dundee hits the top 10 of the 2025 Daily Mail University ranking in some style. Our ranking of UK universities is the most broad-based of the domestic university league, requiring universities to demonstrate teaching and research excellence, great student experience and support, excellent graduate outcomes and – uniquely – a firm commitment to advancing social mobility.

“Dundee’s triumph this year is no accident, its success achieved by success across all these performance measures. The university has a formidable reputation in medicine, biomedicine and the life sciences and is critical to the wider success of the city of Dundee, supporting an estimated one in 12 jobs in the city.

“One in seven entrants received a contextual offer last year as the university seeks to make its brilliance accessible to the widest possible audience, and students are well supported throughout their student journey. The creation of a new Education Academy last year to focus on the development and delivery of an excellent education and student experience for Dundee’s 12,000 undergraduates is the latest initiative to put students front and centre of everything the university does.”