University of Edinburgh voted 30th in world for reputation, despite staff cuts, “urgent” financial instability and claims of “racial discrimination” from snobby English students 

THE UNIVERSITY of Edinburgh revealed yesterday that it is “listed among the world’s best for reputation”. 

According to the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings, the university is 30th out of 300 institutions across the world. 

This is despite last week’s news that the deadline for voluntary severance would be extended, due to a “gap that needs to be closed to secure the University’s financial sustainability”. 

Just last weekend, principal Peter Mathieson admitted that the university has a problem with “snobs” on campus, with instances of discrimination against Scottish students based on their accents. 

Times Higher Education collects data on over 7,000 institutions globally, collating them so that potential students can make informed decisions on their applications. 

The World Reputation Rankings 2025 are based on prestige and this year have placed the University of Edinburgh 30th – the highest in Scotland and fifth in the UK behind University College London. 

The rankings are based on responses from over 55,000 scholars globally, who nominate institutions they believe have excellent standards of teaching and research. 

Last year, The Times stated that the university is “consistently among the lowest for student satisfaction”, as latest rankings in the Complete University Guide show that it comes 121st out of 128. 

Whilst students are left unsatisfied, alleged financial pressures have resulted in the threat of job cuts for staff, who have been consistently calling for higher pay and improved job security. 

Last week, Peter Mathieson sent an email to staff saying that their financial crisis was so urgent that “nothing is off the table”. 

He said possible changes might include “restructuring, possible closures of programmes or even schools, mergers or shared services between schools, centralisation of some services, outsourcing of others”. 

Staff were urged to consider applying for voluntary severance by 28 February, though the University and College Union state that “UoE has sufficient resources to weather any financial strain”. 

They said last week: “The increasingly hostile communications have done nothing to improve transparency or communication with staff and students, and they continue to misrepresent the sources of financial strain and the pathways to resolution available to one of Britain’s wealthiest universities.” 

After a pay rise last year, Peter Mathieson currently earns a salary of £418,000 – almost 20 times the salary of some staff at the university. 

Further, in a meeting last weekend he confirmed that discrimination continues against Scottish students, which was reported as a consistent occurrence last year. 

According to The Times, he said: “There is definitely unacceptable behaviour among student populations.” 

And went on to say: “We felt, and still feel, that this is a problem that we were conscious of. It is not as substantial a problem as has been portrayed but it definitely exists.”