The University of Strathclyde was the UK's first technological university & specialist in practical subjects. Today, it is one of the UK's leading universities and is ranked 37th in the UK, 113th in Europe and 270th in the world by the QS World University Rankings. It is amongst the top 15 in the UK for accounting and finance, architecture, business, chemical engineering, education, hospitality, law, medicine & pharmacy according to the Complete University Guide. The MBA provided at the University of Strathclyde was ranked 1st in Scotland and 30th in the world in 2008 Financial Times MBA rankings. It was also number 1 in the world terms of value for money. The University is one of Glasgow's largest employers and is the only Scottish University in the top 10 UK university careers services cited by employers in a 2004 survey of excellence. The research done at the university has been recognized worldwide. Its total research patent royalty income topped 30 million pounds in 2003 thus placing Strathclyde among the UK's top 10 universities for patent income. Strathclyde's research and technology has created more than 40 spin-out companies and it was ranked 7th in the 'Number of Active Spin-Off Firms' by the Times Higher Education Supplement. Not only this, in the view of the Cabinet Office of Science and Technology, Strathclyde is one of UK's most successful universities for working with industry and commercializing research. More feathers on its cap include the establishment of Europe's first interactive classroom in 1997, pride of being the first IBM ThinkPad University in 2001 and being the first university in Scotland to invest in Multimedia wired and wireless teaching spaces. The 10-storey Student's Union Building of the university is the largest of its type in the UK. The Centre for Forensic Science of the university under the Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry is seen as the leading educator of forensic science in the UK. The popularity of the university can be judged from the fact that it has used Anderson Lion and Professor Bright as mascots.

The university has a very rich academic heritage. It offers more than 200 undergraduate degree combinations and more than 160 postgraduate courses across five faculties. The teaching staff holds lot of expertise in their particular subjects and there is good learning environment with high tech classrooms. The university has some of the best student libraries. The Andersonian Library at the John Anderson campus has around 750,000 volumes and over 8000 current journal subscriptions, the majority of which are also available electronically. It offers 200 networked computers with access to the internet, e-mail, a wide range of software & databases and a wireless area for laptops. The University of Strathclyde believes in continuous curriculum development and innovation which ensures that its courses remain cutting edge meeting all the student demands and addressing social and economic needs.