University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt both rise places in Guardian University Guide 2026

Both Edinburgh University and Heriot-Watt have soared in the rankings this year making them two of Scotland’s most prestigious institutions.

Heriot-Watt has gone up 35 places in the rankings placing them 31st out of 123 UK universities according to The Guardian’s University Guide.

The University of Edinburgh has also improved in the rankings going from 15th to 13th place with a score of 69.4 out of 100 – up by one point compared with last year.

Meanwhile Edinburgh Napier also rose two places taking it to 94th in the table, their student satisfaction rate regarding feedback was high at  80.2 per cent compared with Edinburgh University’s which was only 65 per cent.

Edinburgh University has maintained its place as 2nd overall in Scotland and Heriot-Watt has climbed one spot placing it 7th in the nation.

Both Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt excelled in engineering with Heriot-Watt placing 2nd for chemical engineering rising from 11th place last year and 8th in mechanical engineering.

Edinburgh University came top in the UK for electrical engineering, 2nd in mechanical engineering, 3rd in chemical engineering and 4th in civil engineering.

Heriot-Watt’s principal,  Professor Richard A. Williams, welcomed the news. He said: “This achievement is a clear recognition of the talent, ambition, and commitment of our students and staff”.

He added: “At Heriot-Watt, we work closely with industry and global partners to ensure our graduates are equipped with the skills, experience and confidence they need to succeed. Our strong rise in the Guardian rankings, alongside our shortlisting for University of the Year, reflects the positive impact we are making across society and the economy.”

Other subject areas where Edinburgh University excelled in are nursing where they were top, veterinary sciences (2nd) biology (4th), architecture (5th) and business and management (6th).

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Napier placed in the top 20 for journalism (16th) and music (18th).

Success for Heriot-Watt was also seen in the Complete University Guide’s (CUG) rankings where were published in June. These showed Heriot-Watt climbing 17 spaces, placing 25th on their list.

The Guardian’s ranking for Edinburgh was higher than CUG’s which lowered Edinburgh’s ranking from 15th to 18th in their 2026 guide.