The advances should go down well with students. At Strathclyde, rates of student satisfaction held up better than most in the pandemic-affected National Student Survey of 2021. A year on, the latest results show some ground has been lost. However, for a research-intensive university such as Strathclyde, its top-25 rank for satisfaction with the wider undergraduate experience is especially commendable. The university is joint 41st for satisfaction with teaching quality. For the 2022-23 academic year teaching is on campus, accompanied by video-based learning resources, and group-based live lectures and  tutorials. 

Strathclyde has committed to net zero carbon emissions by 2040 (or sooner). Its targets include a 70 per cent reduction target by 2025 and 80 per cent by 2030. The university is creating “climate neutral districts” – operating on 100 per cent renewable heat, power, transport, climate resilience, and health and wellbeing solutions – aligned with city and regional partners. The first of these projects, the new National Manufacturing Institute Scotland building, opens near Glasgow airport this year. Featuring a digital factory and manufacturing skills academy, its heat is to be captured from the nearby sewage treatment works at Paisley and power will come from solar panels. 

More developments are on the way. Thanks to a £50 million donation from Dr Charles Huang, an alumnus and entrepreneur, Strathclyde is creating a new building at its Technology and Innovation Zone as well as funding entrepreneurship awards and a scholarship programme.

The Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, a unit endowed by the Scottish businessman and philanthropist Sir Tom Hunter, is one of Europe’s leading centres for the study of entrepreneurship, innovation and strategy, and offers degrees in business enterprise.

With 83.8 per cent of graduates in highly skilled jobs or postgraduate study within 15 months of finishing their degree, the university confirms its strong record on graduate prospects, in the top 20. Students benefit from Strathclyde’s well-established links with business and industry, which include partnerships with organisations such as Rolls-Royce, GlaxoSmithKline and the Franhofer Centre for Applied Photonics. 

The university delivers Scotland’s graduate apprenticeships as well as degree apprenticeships validated in England. Its growing portfolio includes seven options such as senior leadership; civil engineering; and information technology. More are planned – under both the English and Scottish programmes – which should bring the number of trainees to more than 900 by September 2023. 

Like most Scottish universities, Strathclyde did not enter the Teaching Excellence Framework, but the university performed strongly in the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF 2021). Almost 90 per cent of its research was rated world-leading or internationally excellent, the top categories. The submission by Strathclyde’s School of Government and Public Policy achieved the university's best results, while work within allied health subjects; and architecture, built environment and planning also did particularly well. But against rising standards elsewhere Strathclyde drops nine places to rank 30th in our new research quality index. 

Given its high entry standards (in the UK top five) and the mix of courses offered, Strathclyde does well to occupy eighth position in our Scottish social inclusion index (up two places year-on-year in 2022). With almost 14 per cent of students from ethnic minority backgrounds, Strathclyde is more ethnically diverse than all but three other Scottish universities and nine out of ten students were state-educated. The university became the first in Scotland to sign a commitment to support access to higher education for the Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showman and Boater communities.

Strathclyde is in demand. Nearly 4,500 new students enrolled in 2021, the largest number of entrants to date, and applications crested 29,200 – also a record. Contextual offers (lower than the standard requirement) are made to eligible applicants from under-represented groups. A wide range of scholarships and bursaries supports students from the UK and abroad. One of them, the Strathclyde Accommodation Bursary, provides £1,000 towards rent in halls of residence for students from England, Wales, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. 

The recently opened £31 million sport centre has a six-lane, 25m swimming pool; two sports halls; squash courts; a café and specialist health facilities. Outdoor pitches are at the Stepps Playing Fields, five miles from the university's Cathedral Street headquarters.

Accommodation is guaranteed in one of Strathclyde’s 1,355 rooms as long as applications are received before the August closing date. Named the world’s friendliest city by the Time Out Index 2022, Glasgow is one of the UK’s leading student hubs, combining legendary nightlife, a student-centric vibe and plenty of culture.