The university appeared on University Challenge for only the second time last night and won against their competitors. Now, those who weren’t aware of the university, are wondering where Robert Gordon ranks and where it is located.
The Scottish university made a historic appeareance on University Challenge last night. Robert Gordon University has only ever appeared on the show twice. The last time was way back in 1994 — the first year of University Challenge’s revival with Jeremy Paxman.
The last of the first round matches saw Robert Gordon take on Roehampton University. The RGU team convincingly won with a score of 210 points to Roehampton’s 90.
The Press and Journal report that the first time that the RGU teammates met was when the show was being filmed at MediaCity UK. Up until that point the contestants had only interacted and practiced over zoom. It seems all the efforts were worth it as the tea makes their way into the second round.
Where Is The Robert Gordon University Located?
The Robert Gordon University is in Aberdeen, specifically Garthdee. One of two universities in the city, the other being the University of Aberdeen, RGU is located in the south-west of the city.
The institution became a university back in 1992 after orginally being founded in the 18th century by its namesake. Robert was a rich merchant from Aberdeen who used his fortune to build an educational institue originally intended for boys from pooer families.
Having no wife or heirs, his entire fortune went to the instution when he died shortly after the project started.
Where Does Robert Gordon University Rank?
The Times Higher Education World Ranking puts Robert Gordon University at 1001-1200th place in the world. This is fairly low on their rankings, which is only out of around 1400. Over the last few years, RGU has steadily been goiong down in the rankings, having been in 801-900th place in 2017.
The university does better in the QS World Ranking, placing in 801-1000th position in their 2023 ranks.
However, what do students think? After all, they are the ones who have gone there. According to the Student Crowd, students place the university at 42nd place in the UK. Beating it is Royal Holloway and London School of Economics and Political Science. Students give it a 4.11 out of 5 and rate its facilities, union and clubs five stars out of five.
One student spoke highly of their experience: “Great university with modern new facility’s, help always available if needed. Every teacher/lecturer I’ve met have been very friendly and helpful. Engineering facility’s are very high spec and new, making it a very enjoyable good learning experience.”
So, although the university doesn’t rank particularly highly, it seems that students think the university is good.
Robert Gordon University made an impressive start on University Challenge, but will their winning streak continue? We’ll see the team again in the second round where they’ll hope for another victory.
