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Glossary of Commonly Used Terms
Academic Family This is a spontaneous St Andrews tradition where older students adopt first year students as ‘children’. Parents can help guide the first years through life at St Andrews in a system of social mentoring, which culminates in Raisin Weekend in November. For a fuller explanation see page 29.
Advanced Standing Credit This term is used in relation to entrant students who may be awarded credit which allows direct entry into the second year of one or more identified degree programmes on the basis of qualifications already earned. Advanced Standing Credits may be withdrawn if the student does not progress in the degree programme for which the credits were awarded.
Advising The process of having a student’s choice of modules discussed, checked and formally approved by an Adviser of Studies.
BSc Honours Bachelor of Science – This is a four-year undergraduate degree within the Science Faculty.
Bejant/Bejantine Ancient Scottish name for first-year students, now only used in St Andrews.
Credit Transfer This refers to the ability of students to transfer credits earned in one institution to another one, or from one St Andrews programme to another in order to continue their studies.
Credits The number of “points” a specific module counts towards a recognised degree programme. Must be used alongside the “level” of academic content in the module. A student’s studies towards a degree will be structured in terms of modules, each of which is assigned a credit value; so, for example, First or 1000-level modules in the School of Art History are worth 20 credits.
Dean of Arts/Science/Medicine/Divinity The University is organised academically into four Faculties, each of which is led by a Dean. Two Faculties (Divinity and Medicine) are composed of a single School, whereas Arts and Science are composed of multiple Schools. The Dean oversees, amongst other things, the structure of all degree programmes and students’ progress through their programmes. Deans also have responsibilities with regard to the quality of the academic provision across Schools, and for academic discipline in their Faculty.
Entrance Requirements For students applying for admission to degree courses, there are general entrance requirements. For undergraduates, these are normally based on school-leaving qualifications, and normally require a pass in English. In addition, specific courses may require qualifications in designated subject areas; Admissions Officers in Schools are responsible for making sure that there is evidence that applicants are capable of pursuing their chosen degree programme.
European Credit Transfer System This is a standard for comparing the study attainment and performance of students of higher education across the European Union and other collaborating European countries.
Faculty There are four Faculties – Arts, Divinity, Medicine and Science. Several Schools belong both to the Arts and Science Faculties, and may offer both BSc and MA degrees, governed by the relevant Faculty degree regulations.
General Degree A three-year degree programme, see page 18 for further details.
General Council The General Council is a governing body unique to the four ancient universities in Scotland: St Andrews, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh. By Act of Parliament in 1858, all graduates of the University become members of the General Council and all graduands are automatically registered for membership, for which there is a one-off life membership fee. General Council membership allows graduates to maintain a life-long link with the University and provides opportunities for them to have a say in its future.
Grades A student who passes a module will have gained both credits, reflecting the workload of the module, and a grade, reflecting the quality of a student’s work. The grade is recorded on the 20-point reporting scale.
Honours Degree Is a four-year undergraduate degree in any of the four Faculties leading to a BSc, MA, MChem, MMaths, MPhys or MTheol qualification.
Joint Degrees These are degrees where the required credits for the first subject and the required credits for the second subject are typically 50 per cent in each subject (120:120).
Levels There are five Levels of modules; 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000 and 5000. Normally the right of entry to a module is conditional upon a pass in one or more modules taken at a lower level of study.
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