Universities in UK | University of St Andrews

The University of St Andrews is one of Scotland’s oldest universities. The university offers more than 900 undergraduate degree combinations and more than 100 Master degree programmes throughout their 19 academic schools, each of which is a part of their four faculties namely:

• Faculty of Art
• Faculty of Science
• Faculty of Medicine
• Faculty of Divinity

The university is ranked the best in the UK for Classics, International Relations, History of Art, Geography, Economics and Physics; it is also ranked first in Scotland and second in the UK, says the Guardian University Guide 2020. It is ranked in the top 100 in the QS World Rankings. The University of St Andrews is ranked first for student satisfaction in the UK, says the National Student Survey 2019.

Life in University of St Andrews

To get a preview about life in University of St Andrews, check out the ScotsGrad’s short video based on Alumni experiences here where we have covered critical aspects such as Rankings, Cost of living, access to food, nearby attractions and other key points of consideration.

Faculty of Arts

The schools with the Faculty of Arts include the following:

• School of Art History:
  • The specialized area of the school includes:
    • the Medieval period
    • the Italian Renaissance
    • the Islamic world
    • the early modern Iberian world
    • modern central and eastern Europe
    • art in France and its empire (1600-today)
    • photography in Japan
    • the post-Second World War era
    • the arts of Africa
    • modernisms in the Americas
    • museum studies.
  • The school is ranked first in the UK as one of the largest and most dynamic art history departments in Britain, says the Guardian University Guide. And ranked first in Scotland and third in the UK for the same criteria, says the Complete University Guide 2020.
• School of Classics
  • The school offers various courses in the following subject areas:
    • Ancient History
    • Archaeology
    • Classics
    • Classical Studies
    • Greek
  • The facilities of the school include Classics Library, Lecture rooms, Seminar rooms, Computing classrooms.
  • The school has a distinguished record of research in the classical subject areas such as Greek and Latin literature, ancient history, art and archaeology, ancient philosophy, reception studies.
  • The School of Classics hosts four research centres in collaboration with other academic schools and department and they are Centre for Ancient Environmental Studies; Centre for Late Antique Studies; Centre for the Literatures of the Roman Empire; Centre for the Public Understanding of Greek and Roman Drama
• School of Economics and Finance:
  • The School of Economics and Finance is ranked third in the UK by the Guardian University Guide 2021.
  • The school carries out research in the following subject areas:
    • Applied theory, decision theory, and game theory
    • Empirical economics and econometrics
    • Finance
    • Macro and international economics.
  • The school is home to the Centre for Dynamic Macroeconomic Analysis.
• School of English
  • The School of English is ranked first in Scotland and sixth in the UK for English and Literature, says the Research Excellence Framework 2014.
  • The school’s research work is divided into four divisions namely:
    • Medieval and Renaissance Literature
    • 18^th Century, Romantic and Victorian Literature
    • Modern and Contemporary Literature
    • Creative Writing.
  • The students of the school have access to the library’s Special Collection library which houses the University’s rare books.

• School of History
  • The School of History was ranked first in Scotland by the Guardian University Guide 2020 and fourth in the UK by the Complete University Guide 2020 for overall student satisfaction and quality of teaching and research.
  • The School of History offers courses in the following subject areas:
    • The History of Religion and Law
    • Social, Economic and Environmental History
    • Histography
    • Intellectual History
    • Nationalism and Transnationalism
  • School of International Management
    • The specialized subject areas of the school include:
      • Area Studies (including Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Central, South and East Asia, Foreign Policy.)
      • International organizations and regimes
      • Peace and conflict studies
      • Political theory
      • Terrorism and political violence.
    • The facilities that are available in the school include Lecture theatres, Seminar rooms, study spaces, offices of many academics, Teaching rooms, Computer facilities, Quiet study areas, dedicated postgraduate research room, group work space.
  • School of Modern Language:
    • The School of Modern Languages offers courses under six departments namely:
      • Arabic & Persian
      • French
      • German
      • Italian
      • Russian
      • Spanish
    • The facilities that are available in the school include multi-media centre, digital language lab, access to satellite television for all seven languages.
    • Italian is ranked top in the UK; French, German, Russian, Arabic and Persian are all ranked in the top 10 subjects nationally for student’s satisfaction, says the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide (2020)
    • Arabic and Persian are ranked 1st, German is ranked 2nd, Spanish is ranked 5th and French is ranked 6th in the Complete University Guide 2020

• School of Philosophical, Anthropological and Film Studies
  • The school has three departments as follows:
    • Philosophy
    • Social Anthropology
    • Film studies
  • The school is ranked second for Social Anthropology; ranked third for Philosophy and second for Film Studies in the UK, says the Guardian University Guide 2020.

Faculty of Science

            The Faculty of Science is comprised of eight schools namely:

• School of Biology
  • The school has three overlapping research centres namely the Scottish Oceans Institute (SOI), Biomedical Sciences Research Complex (BSRC) and Centre for Biological Diversity (CBD).
• School of chemistry
• School of Computer Science
  • The school of computer Science is a member of the Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance
  • The facilities of the school include Computer Labs (Group-working areas and social areas with large LED screens; dual LCD screens); multi-function printers; Lecture and tutorial venue; Social space.
  • The school focuses on the following research areas:
    • Fundamentals of computer science
    • Networking and distributed systems
    • Artificial intelligence
    • Human computer interaction
    • Software systems engineering.
  • School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
    • The school has too many well-established specialized laboratories including Biogeomagnetism; Biomineralisation; Experimental petrology; Geobiology and culturing; Geochronology; Geophysics and field deployment; Isotope and trace element geochemistry; Luminescence Dating Laboratories; Microscopy, spectroscopy and imaging; Rock Magnetics.
  • School of Geography and Sustainable Development
    • The facilities of the school include the physical sciences laboratory; microscope suite; cartographic and design services; IT laboratory with GIS and graphic applications; high specification PCs, scanners, digitisers, plotters and printers.
    • The school is ranked 2^nd in the UK for teaching by the Guardian University Guide 2021 and 4^th in the UK for teaching by the Times Good University Guide 2021.
  • School of Mathematics and Statistics
  • School of Physics and Astronomy
    • The school of physics and astronomy is a member of the Scottish Universities of Physical Alliance
    • The facilities available in the school include the ultralow vibration laboratories in the Centre for Designer Quantum Materials; two class 10,000 clean rooms for nanofabrication and photonic device fabrication; mechanical and electronic workshops; a suite of EPR spectrometers.
    • The school is ranked in the top for Physics and Astronomy in the UK, says the Guardian University Guide 2020, the Complete University Guide 2020 and the Times Good University Guide 2020.
  • School of Psychology and Neuroscience.

Faculty of Medicine

            The faculty of Medicine has developed partnership with the following academic institutions:

• University of Dundee
• NHS Scotland
• University of Highlands and Islands

The faculty has well established facilities that would be required by the students to gain practical experience during their period of study. The facilities include the following:

• The dissecting rooms
• Clinical skill suite
• Medical resource centre
• Anatomy resource centre
• Multi-purpose Lab
• Teaching rooms
• Study space.

Faculty of Divinity

            The Faculty of Divinity is ranked first in Scotland and second in the UK in the Guardian University Guide 2020. It is also ranked among the top 20 Theology and religion faculties worldwide, says the QS World Reputation Rankings.

The four research institutes include:

• Centre for the Study of Religion and Politics (CSRP)
• Institute for Bible, Theology and Hermeneutics (IBTH)
• Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts (ITIA)
• Logos Institute for Analytic and Exegetical Theology (Logos).

The facilities of the faculty include the Historic rooms and the historic buildings which are used to give practical learning experience to the students during their period of study.

Summary

            The construction of the undergraduate degrees at the university gives the chance to study various subjects. The university has a diverse community offering global standpoints on the subject in an exclusive Scottish setting.