University of St Andrews

The University of St Andrews is a public university in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, founded in 1413. It is the oldest university in Scotland. Historic colleges include St Mary's College for divinity, established in 1538, and United College; student life also runs through affiliated halls. The university and the coastal burgh remain closely mixed rather than separated on a suburban estate.

Teaching is organized in four faculties: Arts, Divinity, Medicine, and Science. Fields that draw graduate students include international relations, physics and astronomy, chemistry, philosophy, medieval and modern history, and marine science through the Scottish Oceans Institute. St Mary's College remains the divinity center. Medicine is a smaller faculty than at large civic universities.

About 10,000 students enroll, including around 2,000 postgraduates. More than 40 percent of students come from outside the United Kingdom, from well over 100 countries. Faculty number about 1,200. Notable alumni include Protestant reformer John Knox, U.S. founding-era jurist James Wilson, and former First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond.

Graduate degrees include the MSc, MLitt, MPhil, and PhD. Taught master's combine coursework and a dissertation; research degrees are supervision- and thesis-led. The academic year runs in two semesters. Funding includes university scholarships and UK research-council studentships. Graduate students live in a compact coastal town where the university is the main employer and daily geography runs from the old town to the harbor and the links.

In the Grad School Navigator directory, University of St Andrews lists 99 graduate programs across 29 subjects: 89 master's programs and 8 doctoral programs, with the widest choice in history, earth & environmental sciences and area studies. University of St Andrews holds rank 135 in the GSN Overall University Ranking.