Rankings and league tables

Every year we are ranked in the Guardian University Guide, The Times/Sunday Times Good University Guide and the Complete University Guide. We are also included in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings and the prestigious QS Stars international rankings. Below is a summary of our current rankings.

The Guardian Guide 2018

In addition to being a top 10 modern University for adding value to students and a top 20 modern university for career prospects, we are:

A top 10 UK university for:
  • Film Production & Photography (8th of 65)

Top UK modern university for:

  • Law (1st of 47)

A top 10 UK modern university for:
  • Law (1st of 47)
  • Music (3rd of 37)
  • Criminology (3rd of 33)
  • Media & Film Studies (4th of 53)
  • Film Production & Photography (4th of 42)
  • Modern Languages & Linguistics (4th of 14)
  • Sociology (6th of 45)
  • Computer Science & Information Systems (7th of 48)
  • Journalism, Publishing & Public Relations (10th of 44)

The Times/Sunday Times Good University Guide 2018

The top modern university in the UK for:

  • English (1st of 49)
  • Drama, Dance and Cinematics (1st of 25)

A top 20 UK modern university for:
  • Civil Engineering (4th of 24)
  • Music (6th of 38)
  • Art and Design (14th of 53)
  • Building (9th of 25)
  • Communication and Media Studies (16th of 53)
  • Criminology (11th of 38)
  • Hospitality, Leisure, Recreation and Tourism (14th of 45)
  • Sociology (13th of 48)

Complete University Guide 2018

We are :

A top 10 UK university for:

  • Drama, Dance & Cinematics (4th of 103)
  • Building (10th of 37)

Top modern university in the UK for:

  • Drama, Dance & Cinematics (1st of 55)
  • English (1st of 49)

A top 10 UK modern university for:

  • Building (3rd of 27)
  • Sociology (5th of 49)
  • French (5th of 9)
  • Music (6th of 37)
  • Communication & Media Studies (7th of 55)
  • Psychology (9th of 56)
  • Architecture (9th of 31)
  • Marketing (10th of 47)

Times Higher Education ranks Edinburgh Napier in top 5% of world universities

Edinburgh Napier appeared in the THE World University Rankings for the first time in 2017 and maintained our position in the 2018 table, putting us in the world's top 5%. We rank particularly strongly for "international outlook" (166th of 1,102 worldwide institutions).

National Student Survey 2017


In the National Student Survey, 80% of students are satisfied with the quality of their course.

Some key successes:

  • The best in Scotland and second in the UK for satisfaction with our IT resources
  • Equal first in Scotland for satisfaction with learning resources overall
  • In the top quartile of all UK providers in the subject areas of English and Building

A top 10 UK university for student satisfaction in:

  • Animal Science 
  • Building 
  • General Engineering
  • Microbiology

We also scored at least 90% student satisfaction in:

  • Building
  • Civil Engineering
  • Drama
  • English Studies
  • Microbiology

Study at Edinburgh Napier

We are internationally recognised

In the recent QS Stars international university rankings, the quality of our teaching, internationalisation and employability were all officially recognised, with the University scoring five stars in each category.