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UCAS
Overview
 St.
Andrews is a picturesque small town on the east coast
of Scotland some 50 miles north of Edinburgh. The
University
is Scotland's first, and has about 6000 students studying
in the faculties of Science, Arts, and Divinity [Centrally
maintained University
statistics]. The School
of Physics and Astronomy has some 30 members of teaching
staff and around 80 research staff and research students.
As such, it is large enough to provide a wide coverage
of physics and astronomy at undergraduate level and lively
enough to produce significant
research, but at the same time it is small enough
for staff and students to be able to interact with each
other in a way that may not be possible at much larger
institutions.
We
believe we provide a special learning environment, including
"excellent" teaching of physics in
"outstanding" facilities.
You may wish to go to our web-page designed for potential
undergraduate students, or head straight to our Home
Page.
Degree
Content
 The programmes leading
to degrees within the School of Physics and Astronomy
have been structured to allow well-qualified Advanced
Higher and A levels applicants direct entry to level-two.
Students may thus graduate with a BSc honours degree at
the end of level four (ie after three years), or continue
for an additional year and an MPhys degree instead.
Highers
qualified students and all those wishing to take a broad
first year can enter at level-one. This foundation year
in physics covers material at a level similar to Advanced
Higher and parts of the A-level syllabus, as well as mathematics
and other modules chosen from across the University.
Level-two starts from Advanced-Higher / A-level standard,
and starts to develop major topic areas in physics,
where appropriate astronomy, and mathematics.
 The
subsequent two years can lead to a BSc honours degree
in Astrophysics or Physics. By appropriate choice
of modules the following combined BSc degrees may be completed
by the end of year four:- Physics and Computer Science,
Physics and Internet Computer Science, Physics and Mathematics,
Physics and Logic & Philosophy of Science.
Those
students who have done sufficiently well in the earlier
parts of their studies can choose to take a programme
that has an additional year of study for the more advanced
undergraduate degree of MPhys in:- Astrophysics, Physics,
Physics with Photonics, Theoretical Physics, Theoretical
Physics and Mathematics, and also the MSci degree in Physics
and Chemistry.
Our
teaching emphasises an understanding of the ideas behind
the relevant topic areas. Our courses are designed
to be interesting, current, relevant, and thought provoking.
Gateway
to Physics and Engineering
This
is a new opportunity for entry to physics and/or engineering
at St Andrews and Heriot-Watt Universities. This is a
gateway to both physics and engineering, and it is a gateway
to second-year entry to the standard degree programmes
at each university . Demand for the existing programmes
is so high that our asking rates have had to rise to a
level that means that even very talented pupils in many
parts of the country may find it difficult to gain entry
(eg AAAA is the typical asking rate at Higher for entry
to physics and astronomy at St Andrews). To address this
issue, we now offer a “Gateway” programme that will provide
a highly-interactive first year university education in
physics, maths and study skills for suitably qualified
students. At the end of first year this will open up second-year
entry to degree programme possibilities at either institution.
These can range from “pure” theoretical physics to “applied”
electronic engineering as appropriate. In this way the
institutions can recognise the disadvantage experienced
by some potential entrants, and provide a means for assisting
these people in attaining their potential.
Assessment
A
mix of continuous assessment and end-of-module examinations
is in place. Details can be found in the web-based
handbooks for years one and two and for years three, four
and five (honours), again via our Staff
and Students page.
 Career
Opportunities
The skills and knowledge obtained in the degree course
makes graduates attractive to many physics-based endeavours
such as optical and radio communications, energy production,
environmental monitoring, manufacturing industry, and
fundamental research. Other graduates are also attracted
by the financial sector, management careers, and other
more general areas of employment, where the transferable
skills of the numerate, problem solving, and investigative
physical scientist are much appreciated. The Prospects website gives details of where physics graduates
(and others) from across the UK have entered employment.
Our University has a good careers service.
Interviews
We
do not currently usually interview students as part of
the admissions procedure. However, all prospective
students are welcome to visit to talk with staff about
study at St Andrews. The University organises visiting
days on selected Wednesdays through the year. If your
travel plans call for another date, please contact
the School directly to see if we can organise a special
visit for you.
Tutorial
Support
 A
major feature of our courses is the amount and quality
of tutorial support that is available to support lecture
courses and independent study. In level-one physics
students normally meet in groups of up to eight students
once a week to discuss their work with a tutor, and also
have one workshop session where problem-solving is practised
with expert help at hand. In level-two students
in groups of four or five meet weekly for a tutorial usually
with a member of staff, and there is also one workshop-style
problem-solving session per week. The tutorial arrangements
in level-three are similar to that in level-two, but also
include the small-group skills-tutorials in the Transferable-Skills
for Physicists module. Tutorials in the final years
are organised from within particular lecture modules.
As well as these timetabled sessions, the student-staff
ratio in the School means that students are invited to
contact the academic staff on a one-to-one basis when
the need arises. The staff are pleased to have the
reputation of being accessible to students.
Number
of Students on Programmes
 Around
40-70 students graduate each year with a degree in physics
or astrophysics. Due to the increasing specialisation
through a degree programme, we normally have the maximum
class sizes in year-one, of up to about 90 students.
Class sizes in the final years range from around 60 to
around 2, depending on the module.
Work
Experience
Although
there is no formal (accredited) work-experience in our
main degree structure, we offer assistance to students
wishing to take up relevant employment in their summer
vacations. In addition, our Student-Staff Council organises
a competitive scheme for prestigious summer placements
at places such as Fermilab (Chicago). Some students choose
to spend a summer working with one of our research teams.
 Ratings
- Teaching and Research
In
the mid-nineties our teaching of physics was assessed
as "Excellent", the highest grade.
In 2003 and 2009 a different assessment scheme made very
positive comments about our teaching, but these reports
did not produce an overall grade. Our School's research
in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise was judged to
be equal second of UK physics departments, and top in
Scotland. In 2009 the UK Institute of Physics re-accredited
all our BSc, MPhys, and MSci degrees.
Study
Facilities
The
most recent report by the funding council described the
environment in which we teach as outstanding.
We benefit from a modern building with purpose-built facilities.
Essentially all the teaching is done in this building
or in the adjoining mathematical sciences building.
The University Observatory, which is available
to our students, is about ten minutes walk away in the
middle of the University playing fields. This observatory
includes the largest operational optical telescope in
the UK. Entrant students who apply by the published
deadline are essentially guaranteed a study-bedroom in
a University
Residence, most of which are within ten minutes walk
of our building.
Study
Time
Students
in physics and astronomy can expect to have around 12-15
lectures a week, one to three tutorials a week, and one
or more afternoons of laboratory work, across all modules
being studied. As a guide, we suggest up to two
hours of private study per lecture, or about 40 hours
of study (including timetabled sessions) overall per week.
last updated BDS 10.09
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