The beauty of the campus hits you as soon as you arrive. Nestled at the foot of the Ochil Hills, complete with a loch and its very own castle, Stirling offers higher education in some of the most picturesque surroundings in Britain.
Dating from 1967, Stirling’s campus contains a number of listed architectural gems. One such is the Pathfoot building, a teaching block that houses the university’s large modern art collection. Its airy, contemporary looks dispel the myth that the era produced solely concrete carbuncles. Single-storey, with large expanses of glass-sided walls and internal courtyards, Pathfoot both lets light in and showcases the local scenery.
But Stirling’s selection as our Scottish University of the Year is for reasons that go far beyond its architecture and spacious, tranquil surroundings, where you are as likely to encounter ducks, rabbits and roaming deer as your fellow students.
It has jumped 10 places in our league table this year from 42 to 32, now occupying its highest position in our 12 years of publication. Among Scottish universities alone it ranks fifth, behind St Andrews, Edinburgh and Glasgow, our runner-up for Scottish University of the Year, and Aberdeen.
Stirling’s decision to get involved with the national student survey has paid dividends. At a time when some Scottish universities were (and still are) hanging back, Stirling embraced the annual survey of student satisfaction. Its overall satisfaction score of 78.7% ranks it 23 in Britain, taking account of student opinion on teaching quality, assessment and feedback from tutors, learning resources and overall feelings about their university experience.
Students like the place, a fact further evidenced by a dropout rate of 6.1%, about half the level expected by the funding council given the subject mix and academic background of the intake. Just seven universities in Britain beat their benchmark by a wider margin. “It is not a surprise because we do care deeply about the student experience,” says principal and vice-chancellor, Professor Christine Hallett. “We offer rigorous academic programmes, research-led teaching and one of the most beautiful campuses in Europe. I think, in combination, they add up to quite a special package.”
Our unique survey of academic opinion ranked Stirling 40= among academics across Britain for the quality of its undergraduate provision, so the university scores well with both consumers and providers of higher education for its overall quality.
Our analysis of last year’s research assessments (RAE), the first for seven years, also looked more kindly on the university than the Scottish funding council. Stirling was among the losers when funding was allocated in March following publication of the 2008 RAE, to the tune of £1.5m.
Despite a strong performance in the assessments, Hallett attributes the drop on changes in the funding mechanism and a shift in favour of STEMM subjects (science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine). But with just under 300 academics entered for assessments, our analysis of their average performance awards Stirling a 60.3% success rate, which puts it on the fringes of the top 50 in the UK.
There were notable successes for philosophy and for communication, cultural and media studies, where 70% of those entered were rated 4* or 3* denoting world-leading or internationally excellent research, with economics (60%), social work and education (both 55%), and nursing and aquaculture (both 50%) not far behind.
Stirling ranked first in Scotland in a number of research areas including nursing and midwifery, education, and sports studies.
A strong supplier of students to the professions, about three-quarters of Stirling’s students gain graduate-level jobs immediately on leaving, and its present graduate unemployment rate of 5.2% is well below the UK university average of 8.4%.
“It is very important, in addition to broadening their minds, that universities develop skills that make people employable,” says Hallett. “We make sure our courses link in with the real world.” Students can take personal development modules which help them prepare CVs and apply for jobs, while lunchtime business seminars and a student enterprise programme for graduates encourage and support budding entrepreneurs.
New graduates starting a business get a rent-free period on the university’s Innovation Park while they develop their ideas. Popular environment-focused courses give them a strong chance of employment, but even those graduating with degrees in more traditional academic subjects such as history or philosophy seem to walk into a job without much problem.
One of Stirling’s founding principles was to make educational opportunity available to all who could benefit from it. Today more than 90% of students studying for first degrees come from state schools or colleges. Remaining true to the spirit of its age, Stirling is a social and cultural hub for its area as well as being an academic hothouse.
“We work with schools and colleges to encourage students who might not have thought about applying to university, and we work hard with our arts and sports facilities to make these available to the public,” says Hallett.
Alongside films, plays, music and comedy the MacRobert arts centre draws people in from off-campus with its crèche, children’s art gallery and a professional children’s theatre. The world-class sporting facilities also pull in locals, and during the holidays the campus heaves with summer schools and young people doing sport.
Designated Scotland’s University for Sporting Excellence last year, Stirling is home to the National Swimming Academy, with its 50-metre pool, and the Gannochy National Tennis Centre. As a schoolboy Andy Murray trained here under the guidance of his mother, Judy, Scotland’s then national tennis coach. In 2006, he opened a £1.3m extension, and his mother is still a regular visitor to the centre.
Impressive facilities also include a nine-hole golf course, a fitness centre, running track and three football pitches. Scottish Premier League football club Falkirk trains at the campus and it is the base for Scotland’s national women’s football academy.
With sports core to the university’s mission, sports studies can be combined with 20 other subjects ranging from accountancy and computing science to Scottish history and social policy.
Other founding principles, which include excellence and innovation, have survived the 42 years since the first students arrived. Chief among them is the international air to studying here, which is partly fostered by the close-knit campus, where just under 3,000 students live as well as study. There is a long history at undergraduate level of recruiting students from North America, while at postgraduate level there is strong contingent from India and China.
Many interdisciplinary options are offered among just under 300 course permutations. The core flexibility allows students to make their final degree choices as late as the end of the second year. Stirling was the first university in the UK to offer a modular structure and a semester system and is the only Scottish institution and one of the few places in the UK which offers the option of a February start.
The flexibility of courses is often cited as one of the reasons why the university has such an impressive completion rate. By combining education with geography, for example, you can get a degree and a teaching qualification in just four years. Students can study arts and science, and it is even possible to start off reading environmental sciences, switch courses and leave with a degree in philosophy.
The university now has 10,000 students, compared with its initial intake of 200, as well as campuses in Inverness and Stornoway in the Western Isles for nursing and midwifery students. And while it has the capability to grow a little more, Hallett is keen for the university to retain its caring community feel.
“We do not have plans to double our size because it would change the character of Stirling,” she says. “We are small enough to know the students and the students know each other.”
Stirling’s areas of excellence include the Institute of Aquaculture, the leading international centre in its field and the largest of its kind in the world, and the Institute of Retail Studies, which develops and runs marketing degrees for students in Singapore.
Over the years buildings have been sympathetically modernised and the university library is undergoing a £13.9m transformation which will provide improved access and facilities. Stirling Management School was launched in 2008 to further develop the university’s research strengths and enhance interdisciplinary links.
The campus boasts, in addition to its comprehensive arts centre, a number of bars, a nightclub and a shopping precinct. For those wanting to venture a little further, the city centre is just a 10-minute bus ride away.
On the practical side, the cost of living in Stirling, with its self-catering halls, is lower than that of other UK cities. According to the police, it is also one of the safest campuses in Britain.
Stirling’s academic reputation, high research standards and outstanding beauty continue to make this a popular choice for students. Alma mater of the novelist Iain Banks, former first minister of Scotland, Jack McConnell, and golfer Catriona Matthew, winner of this year’s British Women’s Open, applications were up 9% this year with about six students chasing every place.
“It is a huge privilege to lead a university like Stirling, to see the students satisfied and pleased with their experience,” says Hallett.
From the new to the old, Glasgow University our runner-up, moves up to 22=, its highest ever ranking. Founded in 1451, and the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world, its exceptional satisfaction score of 80.5% under a Sunday Times analysis of the national student survey results is good enough to rank it 14th in the UK on this measure. It is one of the highest scores anywhere for a city-based university.
The university combines tradition with academic excellence in a city described by the Lonely Planet travel guide as one of the best in the world, and which is due to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games. The main city centre campus has grand historical buildings, while the veterinary school, located just three miles away, recently opened a new £18m Small Animal Hospital and Large Animal Holding Building, and there is a campus in Dumfries in the southwest of Scotland.
This September the university launched a range of specially tailored faster-route programmes in science and engineering, which cut the study period by a year to three or four years.
Outside of lectures, students enjoy impressive sports facilities and there are about 100 clubs and societies, ranging from Amnesty International to Ultimate Frisbee.
Glasgow has a strong commitment to encouraging admission of students from under-represented areas, but getting a place isn’t easy. Entry standards are high, with new admissions gaining 406 Ucas points on average. The university’s score of 64.7% under a Sunday Times analysis of last year’s research assessments ranked it 32 in the UK.
If Glasgow cuts its projected dropout rate in the coming years, it could well overtake Edinburgh in our table.
Both Stirling and Glasgow were shortlisted for the UK University of the Year award, won by the University of Oxford after ousting Cambridge from top spot in the UK league table for the first time. After 11 years as runner-up, Oxford edged out its closest academic rival thanks to a strong showing in the same research assessments in which Glasgow did well. Oxford commandeered 7.5% of the entire research funding pool distributed by the English funding council.
University College London was the runner-up, with the University of Birmingham also shortlisted.
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