Flora, fauna — and students — thrive in the granite city. Robert Gordon University (RGU) is creating a 55-acre biodiversity project opposite its riverside campus in Aberdeen in an ambitious environmental scheme, and enlisting student volunteers to help restore the site. Wellbeing walks, weekly free breakfast and supper clubs, free gym membership to RGU Sport, and a laptop loan scheme, competitions and a campus garden are further efforts focused on lifting student spirits.
The bucolic project is in contrast to RGU’s renown for skilling workers to keep the talent pipeline pumping in the offshore gas and oil industries, and more recently in decommissioning and renewable energy. Among its industry-focused facilities is a drilling simulator that replicates real-life settings, enabling students to “walk on to an oil rig”, as well as the world’s first decommissioning simulator. The course offering extends much further, encompassing computing, art and design, business and law, creative industries, health professions, and architecture and the built environment.
What is Robert Gordon University’s reputation?
Named after the Aberdeen-born merchant trader and philanthropist, RGU has more than 275 years’ history of education. Awarded university status in 1992, the university was formerly our leading modern institution for graduate employment, placing in the top 20 for graduate prospects during some of the peak years of North Sea oil and gas production (and still in the top 40). RGU is up 11 places to rank 50th overall in our main academic league table.
Much as Aberdeen itself has shifted its focus to opportunities in decommissioning and renewable energy, so too has the university adapted: its National Subsea Centre, opened in 2023, is working in the North Sea and worldwide to develop smart digital and engineering technologies to enable a faster and more sustainable transition to a net zero energy basin.
RGU’s best results in the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021) were in computer science and engineering — they were not enough, though, to prevent a nine-place fall in the research quality rating.
Entry standards are high — an average of 157 Ucas tariff points — and RGU’s position is further buoyed by our analysis of the National Student Survey, which puts RGU 28= in the UK for teaching quality, although there has been a dip in form for the broad experience this year, with RGU in 78= place (down from 36=).
What degree courses have been discontinued and what new courses are available?
Three part-time online BSc courses are closing in 2025-26, to be replaced by BEng degrees: electronic and electrical engineering; mechanical engineering; and renewable energy engineering. New from September 2025 are film and media; interior design; and, subject to validation, photography; law with artificial intelligence; and law with criminology.
What are Robert Gordon University’s entry requirements — and my chances of getting in?
At the highest end, courses ask for AAB at A-level; at the lowest, CC. For Scottish Highers it’s BCC and AABBB. About one in ten offers are contextual. Applications rose by 3.4 per cent year-on-year in 2024, and 10.8 per cent of entrants joined through clearing.
What are the graduate prospects?
More than four in five (81.6 per cent) graduates were working in highly skilled jobs or enrolled in postgraduate study 15 months after earning their degree. RGU has risen nine places in our graduate prospects index to rank 32nd.
What is Robert Gordon University’s campus like?
At the Garthdee campus on the banks of the River Dee, where all teaching is based, the landmark green-glass library tower symbolises the university’s ambitions after £120 million of investment. A digital laboratory space with capacity for 200 students has opened above the library, for teaching or independent study and with laptops to borrow. There is a drilling simulator that replicates real-life settings, while at the Energy Transition Institute students have access to drilling and advanced rig training using 3D graphics and a control cabin complete with drillers’ chairs.
When can I visit?
rgu.ac.uk
Everything you need to know about Robert Gordon University’s student life and wellbeing support
All students are entitled to free RGU Sport membership, with three gyms, a swimming pool, badminton courts, bouldering and climbing facilities, and a sports hall available. There are more than 40 societies, an active student media outlet and a bar on campus that opens for high days and holidays, but has plans to be operative year-round from September 2025. A wide variety of outdoor activities on sea and land are made possible by RGU’s location on the northeast coast of Scotland.
Mentors and a counselling and wellbeing service are on hand, with free appointments and training for students to act as peer support volunteers.
What do the students say?
“RGU is a place to fuel your curiosity and prepare you for the real world. From the engaging lectures to the supportive teaching staff, I’ve felt encouraged to grow and achieve my best. The courses at RGU dedicate significant time to hands-on learning, and I have gained invaluable experience through placement and study abroad.”
Eva Ojediran, pharmacy student and student ambassador
What about student accommodation at Robert Gordon University?
All first-year students can be accommodated, although the university stops short of a guarantee and rooms offered may not be in the first choice of location. About three in ten first-years live on campus.
How diverse and inclusive is Robert Gordon University?
RGU has risen from tenth to fourth place out of the 15 universities in our Scottish social inclusion index this year. It has a relatively low proportion of students from minority ethnic backgrounds (13.4 per cent, 9th), but has the lowest awarding gap of any Scottish university.
Everything you need to know about scholarships and bursaries at Robert Gordon University
About half of students receive some financial support. A small number of access scholarships are offered to students who meet widening participation criteria. There are some scholarships available for entrants who come to RGU from elsewhere in the UK, and for the larger numbers who come from abroad, to help to cover tuition, which is free to Scots.
