New analysis of five years of university performance has placed the University of Aberdeen among the institutions challenging the Russell Group on rankings, graduate pay growth and application rates.
The report looked at the most recently available comparative measures and named the University of Aberdeen as one of four universities to out-perform the 24 strong Russell Group of research-intensive universities, excluding Oxford and Cambridge, in all three of the arenas examined.
It considered the universities rising faster through the rankings, posting higher graduate earnings growth and outpacing the traditional group of 24 institutions on application rates.
Aberdeen has made strong progress in its league table performance over recent years. For the 2025 rankings the University has achieved a top 15 UK rank and 2nd in Scotland in the country's most prestigious university league tables, The Times & Sunday Times Good University Guide, and the Guardian University Guide.
Of all UK universities ranking top 50 in the 2018 editions of these rankings, the University has seen the biggest improvement in rank over the last six years.
The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes (LEO) report from the UK Government - which provides information on salaries of graduates in employment - also demonstrated the value of Aberdeen University degrees. The University’s first-degree graduates five years after graduation saw salary growth of 2.7% year-on-year between the 2016/17 tax year and 2021/22, out-performing average growth across the Russell Group.
The excellent performance of the University has made it an attractive choice for applicants.
Professor Karl Leydecker, Senior Vice-Principal at the University of Aberdeen, credited the University’s strong showing in the analysis, published by The Telegraph, to the University’s vision for the future, launched in 2020 to mark the University’s 525th anniversary.
Professor Leydecker said: “We are pleased that the strength of the University has been recognised in this way.
“We are an ancient university with a clear long-term strategy – Aberdeen 2040 – which places at its heart an equal focus on our core activities of research and education.
“This analysis reflects our attractiveness to students, our performance in key sector measures of quality and in the success of our graduates in the labour market.”