The torch of higher education burns brightly in this seaside town in the Scottish kingdom of Fife: St Andrews was the first university to break the Oxbridge duopoly at the top of our academic league table three years ago, and remains ahead of its ancient rivals and top of the Scottish institutions for 2025. In our analysis of the National Student Survey it ranks top for the broad experience and second for teaching quality. Students have direct contact with leading academics and enjoy the buzz of an international and diverse community.
Among the notable alumni of this more than 600-year-old institution is the inventor of logarithms, John Napier, and the politician Alex Salmond, as well as two others who arguably put St Andrews on the global map in the Noughties: the Prince and Princess of Wales. When asked why he had chosen St Andrews, Prince William said at the time: “I do love Scotland. There is plenty of space, I love the hills and mountains and I thought St Andrews had a real community feel to it." He studied art history before switching to geography, and is said to have locked eyes with the art history undergraduate Catherine Middleton in a dorm hallway in 2001 — the rest is modern history.
The briny allure of the North Sea is a bonus, and the May Dip, in which hundreds of students run into the sea at dawn in an effort to bring good luck in their exams and cleanse any academic sins, is a popular St Andrews ritual.
What is the University of St Andrews’ reputation?
St Andrews’ academic activities are arranged into four faculties: arts, divinity, medicine and science. Its four-year course structure is a draw, allowing undergraduates to study three subjects in the first year and two or three in the second year, then specialise in a chosen honours subject (or subjects) for the third and fourth years. Through the Vertically Integrated Projects programme, teams of students from different disciplines and levels of study collaborate on research projects, led by an academic supervisor and earning credit and grades. Topics include dolphin acoustics, Scottish professional football and artificial intelligence for decision making. The university also has two new Global Research Centres, one addressing diverse intelligences, the other critical sustainability.
More than 88 per cent of the work submitted by St Andrews to the latest Research Assessment Framework (REF 2021) was assessed as world-leading or internationally excellent, earning the university 25th place in our research quality index. Some of its best results were in physics, earth sciences, modern languages, art history, anthropology and chemistry (in a joint submission with the University of Edinburgh). St Andrews is renowned for its marine research, pioneering medical work at the Sir James Mackenzie Institute for Early Diagnosis and its work at the Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence. Yet again, St Andrews takes the top spot for the proportion of its students who graduate with top honours (94.8 per cent).
What courses have been discontinued and what new courses are available?
None.
What are the entry requirements – and my chances of getting in?
The lowest A-level entry requirements are ABB, rising to A*A*A, and in Scottish Highers it is BBBB up to AAAAB. About 40 per cent of its new students for 2023 come from Scotland, and a quarter of the intake are international students. As part of its efforts to widen participation, the university offers three levels of entry requirements: standard, minimum and gateway, depending on an applicant’s circumstances. Contextual offers are no lower than ABB.
What are the graduate prospects?
St Andrews ranks eighth in our graduate prospects measure (down from seventh last year); more than 87 per cent of its graduates were in high-skilled jobs or postgraduate study 15 months after finishing their degrees. The university matches students with alumni through its Coffee Connect service, and it facilitates work shadowing, international internships and volunteering opportunities to help to boost students’ CVs. The Eden Campus is home to St Andrews Innovation, an entrepreneurial ecosystem and the place to source support for university start-ups and spin-outs.
What is the University of St Andrews campus like?
The university dominates its setting, in the small town of St Andrews, northeast of Edinburgh, perhaps more than any other location in the UK — the student population is more than half that of the entire town.
A fundraising appeal for its 600th anniversary, in 2013, supported by the Prince of Wales, raised £100 million for scholarships and student support and to improve the university’s facilities. The £12.5 million Laidlaw Music Centre, named after one of the university’s donors, Lord Laidlaw, opened in 2022 and is the first building to be dedicated to music in the history of St Andrews. Its first-rate facilities include an oak-lined recital room, a recording suite and a library. The university’s flagship New College development is on the site formerly occupied by Madras College and will be home to the new St Andrews Business School, formed by the merger of the School of Economics and Finance and the School of Management.
Everything you need to know about the University of St Andrews’ student life and wellbeing support
Pubs, societies, balls and sport are the mainstays of St Andrews’ social scene. A £14 million redevelopment and extension has supercharged the sports centre, and students can take part in everything from football and rugby to shinty, ultimate frisbee and lacrosse. For a taste of culture there is the Byre Theatre, which offers a “pay what you can” pricing model, and two university museums. Musical students are especially well provided for, with ensembles varying from the elite St Salvator’s Chapel Choir, Byre Opera and St Andrews Symphony Orchestra to groups requiring no auditions. A performance culture prevails; events are staged several times a week.
And traditions abound: as well as the May Dip there is the annual Gaudie on April 30, in which students process in red gowns by candlelight, led by a piper, to the East Sands to lay a wreath in honour of John Honey, a student who saved sailors from shipwreck in 1800. And the weekly Pier Walk is held after Chapel, when students, again in their red gowns, process along the length of the historic pier — just don’t step on the cobblestones bearing the initials of Patrick Hamilton, marking the spot where he was burnt at the stake in 1582 for his Protestant beliefs, or tradition has it you will be cursed to fail your degree.
St Andrews runs services for counselling and coaching, as well as psychoeducational groups, cognitive behavioural therapy, mental health coordination and out-of-hours care. All students must take a module in consent, and frontline staff are trained by Rape Crisis Scotland. The university also worked with students to develop a reporting tool. Such measures have been introduced in response to a spate of sexual misconduct allegations in 2020, many of them made against members of an American-style fraternity operating at the university. In 2023 St Andrews became the first university in the UK to receive the EmilyTest Gender-Based Violence Charter Award, and launched an Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Project Fund, which provides grants of up to £2,500 to support student and staff projects whose aim is to enhance equality and inclusivity.
Students in need are supported by bus ticket subsidies and a campus larder, which supplies essentials for free.
What do the students say?
"Although it is a small town, St Andrews makes a big name for itself. I would argue this is because of the power of our students looking out for each other, creating spaces or making noise about issues they care about. It makes me incredibly proud to be a part of this community."
Jack Kennedy, LGBT+ officer and geography master's graduate
What about student accommodation at the University of St Andrews?
All first-years who apply by the June deadline are guaranteed a place at one of seven halls of residence that encircle University Park (more than half of them are catered).
How diverse and inclusive is the University of St Andrews?
St Andrews has the most ethnically diverse student population of the Scotland universities (17.4 per cent of its students are from black or ethnic minority backgrounds), yet it is at the bottom of our social inclusion ranking for Scotland. It admits the smallest proportion of students from non-selective schools (56.2 per cent) and the fewest students who are the first in their family to go to university (18.7 per cent).
Everything you need to know about scholarships and bursaries at the University of St Andrews
To help to bridge the financial gap of funding a four-year course, St Andrews provides scholarships and bursaries amounting to more than £2.8 million annually, with awards worth up to £4,400 a year. Applicants from the US can access support through the university’s Title IV accreditation, which means St Andrews is authorised to certify applications for both federal direct loans and alternative education (private) loans.
