By continuing to invest in internationally excellent research and by providing an outstanding learning environment for talented students from all backgrounds our aim is not only to maintain this position, but to improve upon it, thereby retaining our status as one of the select number of institutions which are regarded as being the best in the world. Our mission Our mission is to undertake leading-edge, internationally-competitive research while offering a challenging student-centred learning environment. Through our status as a leading international university, we aim to sustain and add value to Scottish culture and society, to the natural environment and to the national economy. A long pedigree Founded in 1451, we are the fourth oldest university in the United Kingdom and have 15000 undergraduates, almost 5000 postgraduates and 5000 adults in continuing education. We welcome students from more than 100 countries. A research powerhouse The University is a major research powerhouse. Our annual research income of more than £116m places Glasgow in the UKs top ten earners for research. In the latest independent research survey, RAE 2008, almost 70% of the Universitys research was rated as world-leading or internationally excellent. Outstanding teaching quality We offer an exceptional breadth of undergraduate student choice across the physical and life sciences, the social sciences and the humanities, together with a rapidly-expanding range of postgraduate courses. Our teaching quality has been independently rated as among the top ten in the UK and our medical and veterinary schools are consistently rated amongst the very best in the UK. Working together We cannot succeed alone and we work closely with partners and friends in the city, Scotland and beyond to ensure that we are an internationally successful university at the heart of Glasgow.