Taught Postgraduate Programmes FAQs
- What should I include in my personal statement and how long should it be?
- What is IELTS?
- What computer facilities are available?
- Will there be other students my age?
- Is there a mix of nationalities among the MLitt students?
- Is St Andrews a big town?
- Can you give me several good reasons to study for an MLitt at the School of Management, University of St Andrews?
- What is an 'MLitt'?
- Please tell me about Orientation Week.
Question 1: What should I include in my personal statement and how long should it be?
The School of Management looks for applicants to include the following information in their personal statements:
- Why have you chosen to study the subject of your choice (for example marketing or human resource management)?
- Why is studying this subject important to you?
- Why have you decided to apply to study this subject at the University of St Andrews, School of Management in particular?
- Why have you chosen the University of St Andrews?
Applicants can include any other information they feel is relevant to their application. Personal statements should be approximately one page long (about 500 words).
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Question 2: What is IELTS?
IELTS is an internationally recognised test of English Language ability and is often required by UK universities to measure if a potential student's English is appropriate for entry onto a particular degree course. There are IELTS test centres throughout the world and details of these and the exam itself may be found at http://www.ielts.org/ Students must leave a minimum of three months between tests.
There are four papers in the exam: reading, writing, speaking and listening. Candidates must sit all four parts. They are given a grade for each individual paper and then an overall average grade. The highest possible mark is 9, the lowest 1. Speaking and writing are marked in full bands, so students receive grades of 5 or 6, for example. Reading and listening are marked in half bands, so students receive grades of 5.5, 6.0 or 6.5, for example. A UK university will ask for a specific overall mark but may also ask the student to achieve a particular mark on one or more of the papers. For example, a student might be asked for an overall grade of 7.0 with a minimum of 6.0 in writing.
Note also that http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/elt/ is the home page of the University of St Andrews English Language Teaching Centre, which provides high quality English language and study skills training, including specialised courses for students considering Business-related programmes including our MLitt degrees.
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Question 3: What computer facilities are available?
Wireless networking is provided in the Gateway building for University of St Andrews students and staff with individual laptops. All academic and administrative University buildings, and public areas of student residences, have wireless access to the network. Click http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/itsupport/network/networkservices/Wirelessaccess/ for details, including configuration information.
The University also provides computer classrooms and labs for all students to use. In the Gateway building, across Levels 1 and 3, we have one such cluster, with classroom computers and two printers (including scanning function). These are available during Gateway opening hours. The two printers are on Level 1 and will print from PCs on both Level 1 and Level 3 (as well as other pcs in the University network). A number of free print credits are provided when you first arrive at St Andrews and you can purchase more print credits from IT Services: http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/itsupport/computers/printing/printcredits/.
Locations and opening times - many 24-hours - for computing facilities (including additional printers and scanners) throughout the University can be found on the IT Services web pages at http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/itsupport/help/classrooms/Locations/. A range of software is included on the machines, depending on the area. Both Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters Datastream financial statistical database software is provided on one PC on Gateway Level 3; the Univeristy Library also has dedicated PCs for Datastream software.
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Question 4: Will there be other students my age?
The majority of our students are in their early to mid twenties; we do also have a number of students in their late twenties to early thirties.
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Question 5: Is there a mix of nationalities among the MLitt students?
Yes. The broad mix changes from year to year. In 2012/2013, student nationalities include: Australian, Austrian, British, Bulgarian, Canadian, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Egyptian, French, German, Hong Kong, Indian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Lithuanian, Luxembourger, Malaysian, Mongolian, Nigerian, Northern Irish, Pakistani, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, South African, Spanish, Swedish, Taiwanese Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, USA and Vietnamese.
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Question 6: Is St Andrews a big town? What is it like to live there?
St Andrews, one of the oldest university towns in the UK, has a population of between 15,000 and 20,000 people. The town is situated close to Dundee its nearest larger city and is also about an hour's bus journey from Scotland's capital of Edinburgh.
The main University of St Andrews website includes more about both the town and history of the University. Another link is http://www.explore-st-andrews.com/ where you will find further information about the town and local area.
See also our news item 'Quality of Life in St Andrews' noting the town's safe atmosphere and fine weather.
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Question 7: Can you give me several good reasons to study for an MLitt at the School of Management, University of St Andrews?
The Master of Letters (MLitt) nomenclature [see below for full explanation] in our Taught Postgraduate Programmes will help our graduates stand out from the crowd and also inform employers that they have studied at one of Europe's most ancient and prestigious universities.
1. St Andrews is ranked as one of the top universities in the UK and the top university in Scotland.
2. St Andrews is an ancient university with nearly 600 years of history.
3. The University enjoys an excellent international reputation.
4. We offer excellent facilities. The management programmes are delivered from the prestigious new premises at the Gateway Building.
5. The atmosphere in St Andrews is extremely friendly, with all the benefits of town life whilst at the same time being very close to Edinburgh, which in turn is only an hour from London, by low cost airlines.
6. The Taught Postgraduate Programmes in management provide very high levels of student support and academic guidance.
7. The School of Management has been rated regularly as in the top ten in Management and Business Schools in the UK and the top in Scotland.
8. You can have the opportunity, on successful completion of the programme, of joining our Alumni association, the University of St Andrews Alumni, which can provide you with a ready made network of contacts around the world.
9. Taught Postgraduates in the School of Management are offered a broad extracurricular programme with a focus on lifelong learning and developing your career. The Master's Extra ('MX') Programme is an integrated programme between the School of Management and the University Careers Centre. It has been established to provide focused careers events and support for postgraduate students. The programme comprises a series of informative and innovative lectures and workshops by guest speakers, business simulations and organisation visits. Students have the opportunity to enhance their career opportunities by participating in this programme alongside our suite of taught master's programmes.
10. A study by Warwick University found that there were more Alumni from the University of St Andrews at board level on British companies that from any other UK University. See:
- St Andrews University has the highest 'yield' of FTSE high fliers
6 November 2000
"New research has shown that St Andrew's university has produced more of today's top business brains in proportion to its size than any other education institution in Britain. A study by the Institute of Employment looked at the educational background of 1011 directors of the companies in the FTSE 100 index. Researchers worked out a 'yield' which takes into account the size of the university and St Andrews scored 4.1 times better than average." http://www.scottishresearch.com/WhatsNew/News/Older/tcm-26-40662.asp, accessed 07/10/2005.- 24 September 2001
"According to a study by the Institute of Employment Research at Warwick University, St Andrews has produced more directors of FTSE 100 companies in proportion to its size than any other educational institution in Britain." http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/1532435.stm, accessed 14/2/2012
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Question 8: What is an 'MLitt'?
The Master of Letters (MLitt) degree is typically only awarded by the ancient universities. From their inception, teaching at universities was only carried out by people who were properly qualified, as with other professions or guilds: faculties in universities were organised as guilds. In the same way that a carpenter would attain the guild status of a 'master carpenter' when fully qualified, a teacher would become a 'master' when he had been licensed by his profession - the teaching guild. Today Master of Letters degrees are in fact the same level as Masters in Arts or Masters of Science degrees.
The MLitt (Master of Letters) degrees offered by the University of St Andrews are recognised the world over. In the last decade, there has been a huge increase in the availability of postgraduate degrees, making it harder for applicants and employers to recognise a quality business education. The MLitt nomenclature in our postgraduate programmes will help you stand out from the crowd and also inform employers that you studied at one of Europe's most ancient and prestigious universities, at an institution which prides itself on the integrity and value of its taught postgraduate masters degrees.
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Question 9: Please tell me about Orientation Week.
During Orientation Week, the School of Management and the University of St Andrews organise lectures and other events for the new intake of students. You are required to attend several specified events throughout the week. For 2012/2013, the University's Orientation Week is Saturday 8 September 2012 - Sunday 16 September 2012. See University of St Andrews Orientation Week and "Information for New Taught Postgraduates Starting in September 2012" on the School's News page.
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