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• We are consistently ranked one of the top 50 universities in the world.  

• We are 22nd in the 2024 QS World University Rankings 

• More than 45,000 students. (Total students in 2021/22 was 49,065)

• Edinburgh is ranked the sixth-best student city in Europe and 10th in the world. (QS Best Student Cities 2023)

• We’re ranked fourth in the UK for research power, based on the 2021 Research Excellence Framework. (Times Higher Education, Overall Ranking of Institutions, REF 2021) 

• Highest rating for the student learning experience. (Quality Assurance Agency 2021) 

• We’re ranked 19th in the world’s most international universities. (Times Higher Education, The World’s Most International Universities 2022) 

• Students from 180 different countries have studied here in the last 10 years. 

• The sixth oldest university in the UK. Founded in 1583.  

• For more than 400 years, our students and staff have been influencing and changing the world for the better. 

• We have 10 libraries, including the third-largest academic library in Europe. Students have access to 2.2 million eBooks, 206k e-journals and 110k streaming videos.  

• Associated with 24 Nobel prize winners.

• There are 400 Undergraduate programmes.

• The University awarded £10 million in undergraduate financial support in 2021/22. 

• Number of undergraduate students: 28,755. 

• Undergraduates coming from: Scotland 8,665 (30%) Other UK* 9,030 (31.5%) International (inc. EU) 11,060 (38.5%).

• There are 300 taught masters programmes and 180 research areas.

• Number of postgraduate students: 20,310 (13,958 Taught Postgraduate and 6,325 Research Postgraduate).

• UK’s largest portfolio of online postgraduate degrees. (HESA/HEIDI data 2021) 

• There are 80 postgraduate programmes.

• 6,000 graduates.

• We have 5,000 students today studying online. 

• More than 10,000 students have benefited from the opportunity to study flexibly from anywhere in the world.

• Delivering online degrees since 2005. 

• Students have joined us from 180 countries globally. 

• We have 4 million learners (enrolments). 

• There are 100 short online courses.

• Delivering massive open online courses for 10 years.

• Only UK university to offer massive open online courses with edX, Coursera and FutureLearn.

• The University of Edinburgh is one of the world’s top research-intensive universities. 

• Ranked 4th in the UK for research power. (Times Higher Education, Overall Ranking of Institutions) 

• 90% of research ranked world-leading or internationally excellent. (2021 REF) 

• We are 4th most sustainable university in the world and 1st in the UK. (QS World Sustainability Rankings 2023)

• We will be zero waste by 2030 and carbon neutral by 2040. We will be Net Zero by 2040. 

• We are ranked 5th globally for Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure by The Times Higher Education Impact Rankings for our contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

• Has more than 290 societies.

• The Students’ Association supports more than 400 student-led societies and volunteering groups, from the A Cappella and Business societies, to the Women in STEM and Yoga societies. 

• Teviot Row House, opened in 1889, is the oldest purpose-built students’ union in the world. 

• Ranked in the UK’s top 10 universities for the employability of our graduates. (Times Higher Education, Global Employability University Ranking 2021)  

• Our graduates are ranked 25th in the world by employers. (*QS World University Rankings 2022) 

• High Fliers research ranked us the 13th most targeted UK university by top employers’ graduate recruiters. 

• Our graduates are ranked 24th in the world by employers. (QS World University Rankings 2023)  

• 97.2/100 Our employer reputation rating in the QS World University Rankings 2023.  

• 2021/22 research ranked us the 9th most targeted UK university by top employers’ graduate recruiters. (Times Higher Education Global Employability University ranking 2022) 

• Our graduates were ranked 24th in the world by employers in the QS World University Rankings 2023. (Times Higher Education Global Employability University ranking 2022) 

• The University ranked top in Scotland and second in the Russell Group of universities for student entrepreneurship, according to Higher Education Statistics Agency data for 2020/21.

• Scotland’s population is 5.2 million. There are as many people of Scottish heritage living in North America as there are in Scotland. 

• Rough Guides readers voted the UK sixth in the world’s most beautiful countries 2022. Scotland was first in the world when the UK’s countries were last ranked individually. (2019) 

• Home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites. 

• It was the world’s first UNESCO City of Literature. 

• Around 100,000 students call Edinburgh home. 

• The city hosts 30 festivals each year, which attract almost four million visitors to the city.

• Our Sports Union offers more than 60 sports clubs.

• Consistently finishing in the top four of the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) rankings. 

• More than 65 sports clubs made up of more than 200 teams. 

• 29 Olympic and Paralympic medals. 

• 48 Commonwealth Games Medals.

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