Why study at Heriot-Watt?

Why choose us?

As one of the most progressive and international institutions based in Scotland, you will have the opportunity to thrive, both personally and academically during your time with us.

You will become highly employable

Heriot-Watt is ranked 1st in Scotland and joint 2nd in the UK for graduate prospects (HESA Graduate Outcomes Survey 2024). This is thanks to our career-focused degrees and the lifetime support that you receive from our Careers and Graduate Futures Service.

This means you will develop leadership skills and the confidence to be specialists in your chosen fields and professions. Global companies actively seek out our graduates as they are work-ready.

You will learn from world leading academics

Our learning environment seeks to offer you the very best in terms of study programmes, which apply knowledge to real world challenges. We are ranked 256th in the world (QS World University Rankings 2025) and 32th in the UK and 5th in Scotland.

REF 2021 classed 86.8% of our research and 88.6% of our research outputs ranked as world-leading or internationally excellent. (REF 2021).

We offer help to finance your studies

Each year we enable hundreds of students to enhance their educational experience through a variety of Heriot-Watt and externally-funded Scholarships and bursaries, including opportunities funded by the University's generous alumni community, based all over the globe.

You will become globally connected

We have 5 campuses and 150 learning partners around the world. Many of our students get the chance to transfer their study to our campuses in Dubai and Malaysia through our Go Global inter-campus exchange programme. We are also one of Scotland's most international universities, with around a third of our students coming from outside the UK.

You will develop life-long connections

By choosing Heriot-Watt you will join a community of over 27,000 students and an alumni network of over 166,000 worldwide. The Watt Club was founded in 1854 and is the oldest graduate club in the UK. Lifetime membership is automatic upon graduation from Heriot-Watt, and is free to all graduates of the University.

Browse our programmes