Academic staff 1,890. Students 38,430 – undergraduates 31,645, postgraduates 6,785.
A public university in one of Scotland’s two biggest cities, tracing its origins to a School of Design founded in 1843, a Polytechnic from 1970 until university status arrived in 1992. It is the larger of the two universities in its city – the other being the University of Somewhere – and is Scotland’s fastest growing university and its fourth largest. There are two principal campuses – one in the city centre where most operations sit, and one in Central London focused on business and management courses. The centrepiece of the home campus is The Hub, an award-winning 2011 building housing the Students’ Association, student support services and a food hall catered by Sodexo. Four faculties – Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Engineering, Environment and Computing, and Health and Life Sciences.
Income last year was £447.3m against expenditure of £463.4m, and the deficit is the polite version of the story. Growth has been built on international postgraduate taught recruitment, which now accounts for roughly two fifths of fee income – much of it routed through the London campus and a network of agents. Recruitment from two of the university’s biggest source countries has softened sharply this cycle, and the board has commissioned a review of whether the London campus is an asset or an exposure.
At home, Thistle Met is proud of its widening access record – it takes more students from the most deprived postcodes than any other Scottish university, more than half of students commute from within the region, a large articulation pipeline arrives each year from partner colleges with advanced standing, and the mode of study is increasingly part-time and blended. The university’s own data shows those students participate least in everything the SA currently runs.