Academic culture
Schools and faculties
The University has four faculties: Arts, Divinity, Medicine and Science. (Exchange and Study Abroad students are not permitted to take modules in the Faculty of Medicine.) Within the faculties of Arts and Science, academic subjects are grouped into Schools.
Admission to our Exchange and Study Abroad programmes is by Faculty. Your degree programme, background and module choices will be used to determine the most appropriate Faculty.
Modules and credits
Students usually take 60 St Andrews credits (30 ECTS) per semester or 120 credits per academic year.
Most modules come in values of 10, 15, 20 or 30 credits. This means that you might take fewer classes than you would at home (e.g. two 30 credit modules), but that each module has a high workload. One credit represents the outcome achievable by the average student through 10 notional hours of learner effort.
Modules at first and second level (1000 and 2000) are known as 'sub-honours', while modules at third and fourth level, and in some subjects, fifth level, (3000, 4000, and some 5000) are known as 'Honours'.
Teaching
Teaching at St Andrews is innovative and research-led. Modes of teaching vary depending on subject and level, from traditional lectures to small tutorial groups, lab classes and fieldwork.
St Andrews students are expected to undertake their own unsupervised independent study. The Course Catalogue gives an indication of the number of contact hours and the number of independent study hours for each module. The ethos of independent learning allows students to study topics in great depth and helps to develop analytical and problem-solving skills.
Assessment
Assessment is varied across subjects and modules, but is usually in the form of assessed coursework and exams at the end of the semester. The Course Catalogue details assessment methods for each module.