Our commitments

The Athena Swan Charter is a framework which is used to support and transform gender equality within higher education (HE) and research. It is run by Advance HE.

Read our Athena Swan Silver action plan 2024–2028 (PDF).

Our British Sign Language (BSL) Plan 2024-2030 (PDF) sets out how we aim to increase awareness, accessibility and representation of BSL across the University.

Read more about our support for BSL users and access a British Sign Language version of our action plan.

In May 2019, the University of St Andrews became the first UK university to sign the Business in the Community (BitC) Race at Work Charter.

We last submitted an organisational survey to Business in the Community on 15 June 2023, meeting our commitments as a signatory.

In 2022, the University was recognised as an exemplary level (the highest) Carer Positive Employer, acknowledging our commitment to supporting and involving carers within the workplace.

The Diverse Action Plan outlines the actions we will take as an institution over a five-year period to become a beacon of inclusivity.

Established in Scotland, and supported and funded by the Scottish Government, EmilyTest is the world’s first gender-based violence charter for colleges and universities.

The Charter has 40 minimum standards, based around five principles, to instil excellence in gender-based violence prevention, intervention and support.

We are committed to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of our students and staff.  We will achieve this through existing areas of focus within our strategic action plans and priorities.

Read more about our mental health and wellbeing commitments.

Our aim through the People Strategy is to enhance the staff experience through a series of targeted actions and initiatives to support development, performance, engagement, and wellbeing.

The Race Equality Charter (REC) is an important national charter mark aimed at improving the representation, progression and success of minority ethnic staff and students in higher education in the United Kingdom. It is run by Advance HE.

Read our Race Equality Charter action plan 2024–2029 (PDF).

Antisemitism runs counter to the culture of diversity and inclusion that is fundamental to our University environment. It has no place at St Andrews. 

We recognise that antisemitism remains a significant and ever-changing societal problem, that does very real harm to those affected by it. In recognising this, we are mindful that our existing policies and procedures are targeted at our understanding of antisemitism today, but do not anticipate the ways in which antisemitism will manifest in the future. We are therefore committed to continually updating our understanding of antisemitism, with the goal of protecting the safety and wellbeing of all Jewish members of our community now, and in the future. 

Our continued work to tackle antisemitism will be incorporated into a programme of data collection and SMART actions that the University will be held accountable to, within the framework of our application for the Race Equality Charter.

It will include:

• working to improve the understanding of antisemitism within our community
• improving the mechanisms by which those who encounter antisemitism can report it
• considering policies and procedures that protect our students and staff from current and future antisemitic threats, including online harassment

The work described will complement existing, broader scope protections for current and prospective members of the St Andrews community. All students, staff, and people applying to study and work at the University, will continue to be protected from bullying, discrimination or harassment on the grounds of their ethnicity, race, religion or belief (protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010).  This protection is underpinned by the University’s Dignity and Respect at Work policy (PDF) and the Student Conduct Policy (PDF).

It is vitally important that, in our work targeting antisemitism, we do not inadvertently act in a way that undermines the goals of our actions. In the current environment, endorsing any single definition of antisemitism is likely to do exactly this. Such an endorsement would likely divert the conversation to which definition the University has endorsed, polarising discussion and introducing unnecessary division into our community. 

We would however draw attention to the IHRA “non-legally binding working definition of antisemitism”.

And also the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism.

We are aware that antisemitism remains a risk to our community, and that work to target it is never completed, but is always an ongoing process of learning and responding.  In that work of tackling antisemitism, we stand united as a community. 

Updated: Wednesday 6 December 2023

Muslims should be able to study, work and worship at St Andrews free from hostility, harassment and discrimination.

In recent years, Muslims across the UK have experienced the consequences of a resurgence in Islamophobic hostility and violence. Islamophobic rhetoric has been folded into arguments about immigration, and popularised though widespread dissemination by public figures on both mainstream and social media. We reject this normalisation of Islamophobia. Hostility toward people because of their Muslim or assumed Muslim faith is not a point of view we are willing to accommodate.

We are committed to protecting our Muslim students and staff from hostility, harassment and discrimination, whether they face it in person or online. As part of this commitment, we are also committed to improving how members of our community can recognise and report Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hostility. All of this work is held to account through measurable actions in our Race Equality Charter Action Plan (PDF), and it sits alongside the protections every member of our community is entitled to under the Equality Act 2010, and through the University's Dignity and respect at work policy (PDF) and Student Conduct Policy (PDF). No-one at St Andrews should face bullying, discrimination or harassment on the grounds of their religion, ethnicity, race or belief.

We draw attention to the UK Government's non-statutory working definition of anti-Muslim hostility.

And also the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims' working definition of Islamophobia.

What matters more than any single definition is our commitment to recognise Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hostility as forms of prejudice we do not tolerate. Muslims belong at St Andrews as full and equal members of our community. Ensuring this belonging is a responsibility we share, and one we are determined to keep working on together.

Updated: Tuesday 23 June 2026