Edinburgh, University of

University of Edinburgh

Age: 428

History: The sixth oldest university in Britain.

Address: In the middle of one of Europe's most handsome cities, with a modern science and engineering campus two miles to south.

Ambience: Great place for students because it seeps with history and culture. The main residential campus is 20 minutes' walk from the university precincts. It takes many high achieving students from south of the border.

Vital statistics: It is Scotland's leading university. Famous for medicine - over three centuries the medical school has achieved major breakthroughs in areas such as anaesthesia, antiseptics and vaccines. The university offers more than 600 different first degree programmes, and more than 300 joint degree options.

Added value: Arts courses are particularly flexible, allowing students to study more than one subject until the final year. It has a strong performance on the sporting fields in the inter-university BUSA leagues and an almost obscene amount of students clubs and societies. It also has easy access to the Scottish countryside.

Easy to get into? It varies. For some courses straight As will not guarantee an offer, with GCSE results also being taken into account, but there are others where the minimum requirements should be enough.

Glittering alumni: Gordon Brown, former prime minister; the late Robin Cook, ex-foreign secretary; Kirsty Wark of BBC's Newsnight; Stella Rimington, former head of MI5; Sir Walter Scott; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and authors Professor Alexander McCall Smith and Ian Rankin.

Transport links: A hub for mainline rail and coach services. Edinburgh airport eight miles away.

Who's the boss? Former master of Birkbeck Professor Sir Timothy O'Shea is principal.

Teaching: Ranked 91st out of 116 in the Complete University Guide.

Research: Placed 10th out of 115 in the Research Assessment Excercise.

Overall ranking: Ranked 13th out of 116 in the Complete University Guide.

Nightlife: A stack of bars, clubs, plays on campus plus an award-winning student film society. The city is home of the legendary Edinburgh Festival.

How green is it? Alright- it came 47th out of 1138 universities graded by People and Planet for their 'Green League 2011', an assessment of environmental performance.

Any accommodation? New undergraduates from outside Edinburgh are offered a large range of catered options (including 2 meals per day) in single study bedrooms with shared facilities from £120 per week. Self-catered options also exist: single rooms in flats with shared facilities range from £81 to £101 per week. Options to share twin rooms, at cheaper rates, are available in both catered and self-catered accommodation. All rents include utilities, contents insurance and University data and telephony services.

Cheap to live there? Rents can get quite high, and you can expect to pay anything between £60 and £100 per week for a room in a shared house.. Edinburgh is not the cheapest of cities, but there are plenty of student-friendly bars and restaurants if you look hard enough.

Sports ranking: 6th in the BUCS league.

Fees: Scottish and EU students do not have to pay any fees. Students from England, Northern Ireland and Wales are charged a standard Scottish tuition fee, which for 2011/2012 is £1,820 per year, with the exception of medicine, which is £2,895. Fees for 2012/2013 are yet to be decided, but it is expected they will rise by the rate of inflation.

Bursaries: Over 200 Access Bursaries of £1,000 per year available for students with significant financial need. There are also a number of excellence-based scholarships available.

Prospectus: 0131 650 2252; www.ed.ac.uk

UCAS code: E56