187
MA Honours Master of Arts – This is a four-year undergraduate degree within the Arts Faculty.
May Dip This is one of the many St Andrews traditions when students celebrate 1 May by swimming in the North Sea at dawn and holding bonfire parties on the Castle Sands.
Module Degree programmes are modular in structure. Each module is a self-contained unit of teaching, learning and assessment. For the majority of modules the teaching takes place in a 12-week teaching block, usually broken by a reading week or vacation, and in most cases will be followed by an examination.
Orientation/Pre-Sessional/Fresher’s Week The week before Martinmas term commences, especially designed to ease the transition to University life for Bejant/ines.
Pier Walk This is a very colourful sight when students wearing their red gowns walk along to the end of the town pier. This occurs each Sunday after University chapel services, also after Rectorial Drags, and other formal occasions. Students wearing their gowns walk along a prescribed route to the end of the pier, climb the ladder to the top part of the pier, walk ‘round the lamp’, and process back along the top portion of the pier.
Pre-Advising The process of making a preliminary choice of modules online before matriculation at the University in September for the following session. This process is not complete until formal Advising has taken place.
Principal of the University The Principal is appointed by the University Court to serve as the chief executive officer for the University, and plays the same role as might be known in other universities as the Vice-Chancellor, or in other countries as the President of the University. The Principal has a senior management team of Vice-Principals and others with responsibility for the various activities of the University (teaching, research, administration, etc.).
Professors This term is used in the UK to refer only to the most senior academic staff. Other staff are variously known as Lecturers, Senior Lecturers, Readers, Teaching Fellows or Demonstrators depending on their role and level of seniority/experience.
Raisin Weekend See Academic Family above and page 29.
Rector The Rector of the University is elected by the students every three years, and chairs the University Court. A Rector may have no previous connection to the University prior to election, but once in post a major role is to understand and champion student concerns.
Red Gown Undergraduate students wear this red academic gown at formal occasions.
Semester The academic session is divided into two distinct teaching units called semesters. Semester 1 runs from September to January. Semester 2 runs from February to May.
Seminar Interactive teaching session with up to 20 students and a member of staff. The session may be led by a student presenting their own work to their peers, with comments by the member of staff.
Session
A session is a full academic year (September to September) comprising two semesters and the summer break.
Single Honours Degrees These are degrees where credits for an Honours programme are obtained predominantly in one subject. Flexibility at Honours level means that one or two modules (less than 60 credits total) may occasionally be taken outwith the named subject area.
Sponsio Academica All St Andrews students, when they matriculate, agree to an
oath that guarantees good conduct and “…that we shall be subject to the authority of the Senatus Academicus … ”. The oath used to be spoken (in Latin) but is now simply printed, with a signature on the matriculation form indicating agreement. All four ancient Scottish universities have a Sponsio Academica, though they differ in wording. See:
www.st-andrews.ac.uk/students/rules/
Tutorial Small group interactive teaching session with a member of staff and usually less than 10 students. The session is likely to involve discussion of previously assigned work.
University Court The governing body of the University.
“With” degrees These are degrees where credits for an Honours programme are obtained from two subject areas, and where no fewer than one-quarter and no more than one-third of the credits are taken in one of the two subject areas.
Lesley Lind
Glossary of Commonly Used Terms
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195