University of Glasgow

By ALASTAIR MCCALL, DAILY MAIL UNIVERSITY GUIDE EDITOR Published: 13:07, 12 August 2026 | Updated: 13:07, 12 August 2026 Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes. Glasgow is celebrating its 575th anniversary this year and looking firmly to the future as an extension to its main campus progresses. Work is well under way on the fifth major construction - the Keystone Building - on a 14-acre site adjoining the main Gilmorehill campus. It is expected to be ready for students in 2028-29, when the total spend on the new developments is expected to have reached £1.3b. It will accommodate 3,600 students in its general teaching and learning areas, dry and wet laboratories, and high-spec computing labs. It will also provide a maker's workshop and teaching facilities for the James Watt School of Engineering. Work is underway to upgrade the annexe of the main university library too. Four buildings have been rolled out already - The James McCune Smith learning hub, the Advanced Research Centre, the Clarice Pears Building for the School of Health and Wellbeing and the Adam Smith Business School. They have added considerably to student facilities, enhancing their learning experience - something that has begun to filter through in this year's scores in the National Student Survey, which show a significant improvement in previously poor results for teaching quality and student experience. This uplift has helped move Glasgow into our elite top 20. It is the more Scottish of Scotland's two Russell Group universities, with 80% of UK recruits drawn from north of the border. Those from England, Wales and Northern Ireland qualify automatically for a £3,000 annual bursary that more than offsets the cost of an additional year of tuition needed to complete Scottish degrees. The university has a second Glasgow site at Garscube, home to the veterinary medicine school and outdoor sports facilities, while a campus in Dumfries offers degrees in primary education, environmental science and sustainability, and global sustainable development. Your browser does not support iframes. Undergraduates recruited from England, Wales and Northern Ireland (RUK) who come from homes with income of £25,000 or under receive a World Changers RUK Access Bursary of £3,000 per year. Worth £12,000 over the course of a standard four-year degree, it more than offsets the extra £10,000 in tuition fees due to the additional year of study compared to non-Scottish universities. It is available for all degrees bar nursing. A further £1,000 a year can be earned through a World Changers RUK Excellence Scholarship, which is paid to those who achieve A*AA or better in their A-levels or equivalent, so long as they're not applying for nursing, product design, medicine, dentistry or veterinary medicine. For Scottish students, up to 50 Talent scholarships are available worth £1,500 per year if they achieve AABB to BBBB in Higher examinations (grade thresholds vary from year to year) and can show in two 4,000-character personal statements their motivation and commitment to education as well as the family and financial circumstances that might preclude them from taking up their place. About 30 James McCune Smith scholarships, now worth £4,000 in the first year of study (double the level made previously), are awarded each year to black heritage students who could face financial difficulties in taking up their place at Glasgow. There are more than 5,000 places in university accommodation offered on standard 39-week contracts. The cheapest shared rooms in Cairncross House cost £5,067. The cheapest single rooms in Cairncross House, the Murano Street Student Village, Student Apartments and Winton Drive cost £6,552 while the most expensive premium plus studios in Havannah House cost £9,337. Catered accommodation formerly provided in Wolfson House, close to the veterinary school and Garscube sports complex, has closed this year. Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes. Admissions, teaching and student support Glasgow operates one of the more extensive contextual admissions programmes among Russell Group universities, promising to undertake 'a holistic review of the applicant's UCAS application to ensure all contextual factors are recognised and considered alongside academic achievements and any educational disadvantage experienced'. Grade adjustments vary by course, but eligibility doesn't. Criteria includes living in one of the 40% of postcodes considered to be the most deprived, having been in care or being a young carer, and being estranged from your family. The university also makes adjusted offers to applicants who successfully complete one of the pre-entry programmes, such as a summer school or taster week, among the outreach initiatives the university runs across Scotland, with a particular focus on Glasgow and the west of the country. The university has a single webpage (www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/students/wellbeing/) outlining the full range of wellbeing and mental health support open to students. The counselling and wellbeing service offer one-to-one appointments either in person or online, as well as group therapy and a Wellbeing Matters programme, which consists of online sessions covering common challenges for students. Online support is available 24/7 through a counselling and advice app; TalkCampus; and Student Listeners, a confidential student-led service for those with mild mental health issues such as stress, isolation, homesickness, and financial or academic worries. The Students' Representative Council also run a number of workshops covering mental health awareness, suicide prevention, sexual consent and bystander intervention.