2 About this public authority
St Andrews, founded in 1413, is Scotland's first University and the third oldest in the UK. For almost six centuries, the University has proudly upheld a tradition of academic excellence, attracting scholars of international repute and students from all over the world.
The University provides an invigorating intellectual climate in which staff have close contacts with one another and with colleagues in other UK and overseas universities and research establishments. All Schools are actively involved in pushing back the frontiers of knowledge.
St Andrews is relatively small, despite being a city, with a population of 16,000. The University population (staff and students) numbers around 9,300.
The University of St Andrews continues to maintain an enviable reputation for success in learning, teaching and research.
The constitution of the University is laid down in a series of Acts of Parliament enacted between 1858 and 1966. Under these the University Court is the supreme governing body having responsibilities for finance, the appointment of staff and general managerial functions. Its members come from within the University, the local community and beyond. The Court is chaired by the Rector, elected by the matriculated (registered) students of the University.
The Senatus Academicus is the supreme academic body under the presidency of the Principal who is the University's Vice-Chancellor. It consists of all professors, heads of school, a number of elected non-professorial members of staff, and four student members. Much of the Senate's business is delegated to a smaller body, the Academic Council.
The University is divided into four Faculties - Arts, Divinity, Science, Medicine - each one governed by a Faculty Council comprising all permanent members of academic staff in each school in the Faculty. These Faculty Councils, in association with the Senatus Academicus, are ultimately responsible among other things for the approval of new undergraduate and postgraduate courses and for overseeing and monitoring the progress of students. The Deans of Faculties and other Faculty officers, including those responsible for postgraduate matters, are elected by the Faculty Councils. The Faculty Councils meet once annually, towards the end of each academic year.
The routine business of the Faculty is conducted throughout the year by the Teaching, Learning and Assessment (TLA) Committee, a standing committee reporting to Senate, and by the Faculty Business Committees. The Faculty Business Committees, comprising Faculty officers and any other co-opted members, meet in advance of each TLA committee to dispatch routine business and review issues arising from the implementation of policy or course proposals, highlighting issues which may need discussion in the wider forum of the TLA.