Interdisciplinary themes

• Scotland

  Studying abroad is a great chance to learn more about the country in which you are studying. This theme highlights modules in Arts and Science that deal with some aspect of Scottish culture, history or geography. Find out more about the Scotland theme (PDF) .

  Divinity

  • The Early and Mediaeval Church: History, Beliefs and Practices: explores key themes in the organisation, practice and beliefs of the early and mediaeval church, focusing mostly on the period from the first to the ninth centuries.

  Earth Sciences

  • Planet Earth: provides a foundation into the study of Earth and environmental sciences.
  • Dynamic Earth: Magma, Minerals and Metamorphism: focuses on the geology and geochemistry of the solid Earth and high-temperature processes in the Earth's interior.
  • Dynamic Earth: The Earth System: examines the behaviour of the solid Earth and its interaction with the atmosphere and biosphere and beyond.
  • Earth Resources and Environment: builds on the Planet Earth module with a focus on the Earth's resources and environment.
  • Field Methods in Geosciences: designed exclusively for non-graduating overseas undergraduate students seeking advanced training in geological field methods. It consists of hands-on experience honing observational and mapping skills by participating in highly focused residential and one-day excursions and associated laboratory classes.

  English

  • Celtic Modernisms: analyses a range of texts from Scottish, Irish and (Anglo-)Welsh writers – from formal as well as socio-political perspectives.
  • The Country and the City in Scottish Literature: explores Scottish novels and poetry from the early 19^th century to the present day reading the literary construction and deconstruction of Scotland through depictions of its rural and urban spaces.

  Music

  • Scottish Music: explores a wide range of music in Scotland, examining Highland and Lowland folk music and more recent pop music as well as classical music composed from the mediaeval era onwards.

  Social Anthropology

  • Ethnographic Encounters: explores the emergence of fieldwork practice in social anthropology, and reflexively considers the social, methodological and theoretical relations produced through ethnography.

• Sustainability

  Sustainability is a key interdisciplinary research interest at St Andrews, and the University is committed to sustainable practices. This theme highlights the wealth of expertise offered in this area available for undergraduate study. Find out more about the Sustainability theme (PDF) .

  Biology

  • Ecosystems and Conservation: examines how ecosystems function and how they provide services for humans – information which is essential for ecologists, conservationists and land managers.
  • Fisheries Research: provides an introduction to the utilisation of fish stocks in a sustainable way.

  Economics

  • Economics of the Environment: introduces basic ideas, methods and problems of environmental economics and policy building on current scientific evidence and a knowledge of economics.

  Geography

  • A World in Crisis?: explores how Geography works as a ‘world discipline’ that is equipped to examine global problems from a range of human, environmental and physical geography perspectives.
  • Welcome to the Anthropocene: Society, Population, Environment: shows how Geography, is uniquely placed to understand our changing world.

  Management

  • Corporate Social Responsibility, Accountability and Reporting: provides an introduction to and analysis of corporate social responsibility and sustainability, the meaning, tensions and conflicts that social responsibility entails and the role that accountability can play in the discharge of responsibility in a democracy.
  • Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs): Contexts, Contributions and Challenges: examines the roles played by voluntary organisations, the nature of the organisations themselves, and the issues and challenges that they are facing as a number of significant shifts.
  • Sustainable Development and Management: examines the origin of the concept of sustainable development in public policy discourses with particular focus on the implications this concept has for the operation of business organisations.

  Sustainable Development

  • Sustainable Development: Frameworks for Implementation: considers broad conceptual approaches to implementing Sustainable Development.
  • Sustainable Development: Tools for Action: looks at 'how' different agents, such as governments, corporations, and individuals enact change.
  • Sustainable Development: Environment and Development Economics: This module takes a broad perspective on economic development and how economic development interacts with the environment. The module introduces key concepts in economic development and natural resource management.

• Travel and Exploration

  Studying abroad is a voyage of discovery – it can change the way you see the world and expose you to new ideas and ways of life. This theme brings together modules that deal in some way with travel and exploration through the ages. Find out more about the Travel and Exploration theme (PDF) .

  Biology

  • Scientific Diving: provides both theoretical and practical experience of the techniques used by scientific divers.

  Comparative Literature

  • Journeys: introduces students to a range of texts – both canonical and non-canonical – offering variants on the theme of 'Journeys'.

  Earth Sciences

  • Planet Earth: provides a foundation into the study of Earth and environmental sciences.
  • Dynamic Earth: Magma, Minerals and Metamorphism: focuses on the geology and geochemistry of the solid Earth and high temperature processes in the Earth's interior.
  • Dynamic Earth: The Earth System: examines the behaviour of the solid Earth and its interaction with the atmosphere and biosphere and beyond.
  • Dynamic Earth: Earth Surface Processes: focuses on the low temperature processes that occur in the outer envelopes of the Earth, including land-atmosphere interactions, glacial processes, tectonic geomorphology, geomicrobiology and oceanography. 
  • Earth Resources and Environment: builds on the Planet Earth module with a focus on the Earth's resources and environment.
  • Field Methods in Geosciences: designed exclusively for non-graduating overseas undergraduate students seeking advanced training in geological field methods. It consists of hands-on experience honing observational and mapping skills by participating in highly focused residential and one-day excursions and associated laboratory classes.

  Music

  • An Introduction to Ethnomusicology: provides a broad overview of the emergence of ethnomusicology, the study of why, and how, human beings are musical.  

  Social Anthropology

  • Ways of Thinking: concentrates on the modes of thought and systems of belief of non-Western cultures and on the social significance of language in human communication.

  Spanish

  • Spanish Language and Texts 1: the language part of the module promotes the four skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking. There is also formal grammar instruction.

• Science for Arts Majors

  Many visiting Arts students are eager to expand their academic horizons and study science at St Andrews. This theme brings together science modules that are suitable for students with diverse academic backgrounds. Find out more about the Science for Arts Majors theme (PDF) .

  Biology

  • Biology 1: an introduction to molecular and cellular biology.

  Chemistry

  • A First Course in Organic Chemistry: an introductory course in Organic Chemistry.
  • The Impact of Chemistry: explores the impact that Chemistry has on all our lives and all aspects of society.
  • Introductory Inorganic and Physical Chemistry: includes lectures on the origin of the elements, atoms and the Periodic Table, shapes and properties of molecules, chemistry of the elements, states of matter, thermochemistry, thermodynamics and kinetics.
  • Inorganic and Physical Chemistry 1: includes lectures on bonding in simple molecules, inorganic solids, chemistry of the first-row  transition metals, properties of solids, properties of solutions and introductory spectroscopy.
  • Organic and Biological Chemistry 1: includes lectures on the structure, stereochemistry and nomenclature of simple organic compounds and more.

  Computer Science

  • Computer Science in Everyday Life: introduces key ideas of Computer Science through examination of the working of devices and services which are part of modern everyday life, such as search engines, personal music players, mobile telephones and social networking sites.
  • Object-Oriented Programming: provides an introduction to object-oriented modelling and programming, using UML and Java.

  Earth Sciences

  • Planet Earth: provides a foundation into the study of Earth and environmental sciences.

  Mathematics and Statistics

  • Introductory Mathematics: gives students a secure base in elementary calculus to allow them to tackle the mathematics needed in other sciences.
  • Mathematics: introduces students to the ideas, methods and techniques which they will need for applying mathematics in the physical sciences or for taking the study of mathematics further.
  • Pure and Applied Mathematics: provides students with a taste of both pure and applied mathematics.

  Music

  • Electronic Music: offers students the opportunity to work in small groups in the Music Centre's studio to create music from electronic sources. 

  Physics and Astronomy

  • The Physical Universe: presents a descriptive, non-mathematical account of the physical universe.

  Sustainable Development

  • Sustainable Development: Frameworks for Implementation: introduces aspects of how sustainable development might be encouraged and facilitated.
  • Sustainable Development: Tools for Action: looks at how different agents, such as governments, corporations, and individuals enact change.

• Unique to St Andrews

  St Andrews is one of the UK's leading research institutions, and that world-class research infuses all of our teaching. This theme highlights modules that stem from some of the University’s key areas of research. Find out more about the Unique to St Andrews theme (PDF).

  Biology

  • Aquatic Ecology: introduces the ecology of aquatic systems beginning with a description of the problems of life in a fluid medium.
  • Biology of Marine Organisms: focuses on the range of microbial and metazoan organisms and ecological systems in the marine environment.
  • Ecosystems and Conservation: examine how ecosystems function and how they provide services for humans: information which is essential for ecologists, conservationists and land managers.
  • Evolution: explores molecular variation and evolution, including phylogeny reconstruction; the evolution and maintenance of sex; the genetics of continuous traits, and the relative importance of continuous and discontinuous variation in evolution, and more.
  • Foraging in Marine Mammals: provide primarily seminar and practical-based analysis of the life-history requirements of foraging in marine mammals. 
  • Infection and Disease: explores parasite infections, viral disease, and pathogenicity of common bacterial infections.
  • Molecular Mechanisms of Membrane Trafficking: considers how molecules control the movement of substances through the secretory pathway, but will focus on how cells regulate the release of contents.
  • Molecular Virology: consists of a mixture of lectures, tutorials and personal-based learning on aspects of RNA virus host interactions.  
  • Protein Structure and Function: provides an understanding of more advanced aspects of protein structure and enzymology.
  • The Question of Culture in Cetaceans: provide an introduction to social learning and cultural transmission in non-humans  through considering the conceptual issues and direct and indirect evidence for cultural transmission in cetaceans, the whales and dolphins.

  Greek

  • Imagining the Symposium: explores the symposium, a key cultural institution of the ancient Greek world, through its representation and dramatisation in both poetry and prose. 

  History

  • From Cradle to Grave: Living and Dying in Early Modern England, c.1500-1800: explores life and death in England during a period of profound social, political, economic, religious and legal change.
  • The Ottoman Empire 1300-1700: studies the development of the early modern Ottoman Empire from its rise and definitive establishment in the late Middle Ages until the end of the 17^th century.

  Mathematics and Statistics

  • Estimating Animal Abundance: introduces students to the main types of survey methods for wildlife populations.
  • Solar Theory: explores the basic dynamic processes at work in the Sun.

  Music

  • Reading Opera: Texts, Libretti and Music from Purcell to Stravinsky: examines operas based on literary works from a variety of different nations that are significant in their own right. 

  Physics and Astronomy

  • Biophotonics: exposes students to the exciting opportunities offered by applying photonics methods and technology to biomedical sensing and detection.
  • Laser Physics 2: quantitative treatment of laser physics embracing both classical and semiclassical approaches and more.
  • Magnetofluids and Space Plasmas: aimed at both physics and astrophysics students with interests in the physics of plasmas.
  • Monte Carlo Radiation Transport Techniques: introduces the theory and practice behind Monte Carlo radiation transport codes for use in physics, astrophysics, atmospheric physics, and medical physics.
  • Observational Astrophysics: introduces students to the hands-on practical aspects of planning observing programmes, conducting the observations and reducing and analysing the data.
  • Quantum Optics: quantitative treatment of laser physics embracing both classical and semiclassical approaches.

  Social Anthropology

  • Ethnographic Encounters: explores the emergence of fieldwork practice in social anthropology, and reflexively considers the social, methodological and theoretical relations produced through ethnography.

  Spanish

  • Post-1975 Writing in Spain 1: explores a selection of literary texts (works of prose fiction and poetry, in the main) produced in the post-Franco period.

  Sustainable Development

  • Sustainable Development: Frameworks for Implementation: introduces aspects of how sustainable development might be encouraged and facilitated.
  • Sustainable Development: Tools for Action: looks at how different agents, such as governments, corporations, and individuals enact change.

• Community

  Studying abroad is all about joining and immersing yourself in new communities, whether academic, social or cultural. This theme brings together modules that deal with historical and contemporary communities of different kinds.

  Classical Studies

  • Religious Communities in the Late Antiquity: the late antique period was marked by dramatic developments in the religious history of the Mediterranean. This module will approach these developments from the perspective of local communities.
  • Myth and Community in Ancient Greek Literature and Culture: this module explores some of the most dynamic literary and artistic achievements of archaic and classical Greek culture (8th to 4th century BCE). 
  • Mediterranean Communities: this module deals with the human settlement and material culture of the entire Mediterranean World throughout classical antiquity. 

  Geography and Sustainable Development

  • Housing, Community and Social-Spatial Justice: the module introduces the inter-disciplinary field of housing studies.
  • Migration and Transnationalism: this module is designed to advance students' appreciation of the chief academic arguments associated with migration and transnationalism. Geographical analysis of the changing role of labour migration in the world economy offers a distinctive perspective on this spatially, socially and economically selective process.

  Music 

  • Scottish Music: the module explores a wide range of music in Scotland, examining Highland and Lowland folk music and more recent pop music as well as classical music composed from the mediaeval era onwards.