Robert Gordon University guide: Rankings, open days, fees and accommodation
Overview
Exceptional graduate employment statistics make a compelling case for applicants to consider Robert Gordon University (RGU), making the downturn in applications to this vocationally oriented institution hard to fathom. Admissions via Ucas in 2024 were at their lowest in the past ten years, but those who sign up for this mid-sized university, based in Aberdeen, find it is four years well spent. Four in five end up in high-skilled jobs - many of them having met their employer during the work placements that are integral to many courses - and a similar proportion believe their careers to be on track 15 months after leaving. Healthcare students account for about a third of the student body. The university performs strongly in the National Student Survey. RGU occupies a modern riverside campus close to the centre of Aberdeen; Garthdee is home to around 10,000 undergraduates and 5,000 postgraduates, including a 680-strong population of graduate apprenticeship learners. Scotland's third-largest city is a popular student destination, no longer as expensive as during the Oil City boom years, and is also the winner of 11 consecutive Purple Flag awards for having a safe nightlife. The surrounding coast and mountains offer endless possibilities for the outdoorsy, too.
Paying the bills
The 98% of students recruited from Scotland in 2023-24 pay no tuition fees, reducing the need for student financial support quite considerably compared to many other Scottish universities with a more geographically diverse intake. Nevertheless, more than 300 received hardship payments in the 2023-24 academic year. The non-repayable grants are issued to meet basic living expenses, study-related costs and travel to and from university. Other initiatives to help ease student hardship include a breakfast club each Tuesday and a Thursday supper club to provide free hot food and drinks, while membership of the RGU gym is free for all students. Access scholarships target those from under-represented groups and postcodes with the lowest progression rates to university with a total of nine awards made in 2023-24. Twice that number benefitted from sports scholarships worth £7,250 between them, with the money used to support travel, training, equipment and competition expenses. Most other support is targeted on international students. There are also variable tuition fees for the 2% of domestic students recruited outside of Scotland (RUK - rest of UK). Despite the extra year of study associated with degrees in Scotland, fees as low as £6,250 per year (£25,000 in total) for applied psychology, for example, can make a degree at RGU cheaper than its equivalent in the rest of the country. The more than 900 places in university residential accommodation are priced competitively between £4,451 for a 42-week undergraduate let and £8,428 for a 49-week let.
What's new?
RGU seeks to appeal to environmentally conscious students with the launch of a major biodiversity project at Waterside Farm, opposite its Garthdee campus. The 55-acre site will be transformed into a thriving habitat for fauna and flora with students able to play a part in the site's restoration and development through several opportunities offered through weekly volunteer days. Five new degrees are planned for the 2025-26 academic year, two of them (subject to validation) are new LLB programmes combining law with artificial intelligence or criminology. Additionally, a new BA in film and media will be joined by a BDes in interior design which also begins teaching in the new academic year. A BA in photography is also proposed, which was again still subject to validation at the time of going to press.
Admissions, teaching and student support
Mentoring and peer support play a key role in RGU's services to support student mental health and well-being. Reasonable adjustments to teaching, learning and assessment are made for students experiencing difficulties. Students with disclosed mental illness typically meet mentors every week during term time while the counselling and well-being service offers a private space for students to discuss academic and personal issues. The service also trains RGU's peer support volunteers, who provide free unlimited one-to-one sessions with students who need to talk through their worries. Those from groups under-represented in higher education are given a named contact for personal pastoral support to help them through from application to graduation. A contextual offers scheme - which benefitted around 10% of all entrants in September 2024 - reduces the entry requirements for a given course by between one and three grades. So, a standard entry offer of BBBB at Higher could be reduced to BCCC. There is a wide range of qualifying criteria, with a focus on increasing recruitment from schools with low rates of progression to higher education (which are part of the Schools for Higher Education Programme (SHEP)) and from the 40% of Scottish postcodes with the highest levels of deprivation. The university's blended learning standard enshrines the experience students can expect, including the number of contact hours students will receive on courses which routinely combine on-campus time with online learning. Attendance monitoring helps keep track of those at risk of dropping out and arrangements are put in place to keep them on board.