University of St Andrews - History

History

The university was founded in 1410 when a charter of incorporation was bestowed upon the Augustinian priory of St Andrews Cathedral. A Papal Bull was issued in 1413 by the Avignon Pope Benedict XIII. A royal charter was granted in 1532. The University grew in size quite rapidly; A pedagogy, St John's College was founded 1418–1430 by Robert of Montrose and Lawrence of Lindores, St Salvator's College was established in 1450, St Leonard's College in 1511, and St Mary's College in 1537. St Mary's College was a re-foundation of St Johns College and earlier pedagogy. Some of the early college buildings that are in use today date from this period such as St Salvator's Chapel and St Leonards College chapel and St Mary's College quadrangle. At this time, much of the teaching was of a religious nature and was conducted by clerics associated with the cathedral.

From the 17th to 19th centuries, St Andrews underwent a dramatic decline which at some point even menaced the university's own survival. Pupil numbers were very low; for instance, when Samuel Johnson visited the university in 1773, the university barely had 100 pupils, and this situation did not improve during the 19th century, as in the 1870s, the student population was fewer than 150. Apart from a low number of pupils, it was also unusual for them to graduate: especially during the 17th and 18th centuries, students would attend college for a term or two. This was due to relative irrelevance of academic degrees for educated people at that time, as they did not secure any social position for those coming from upper classes, and those coming from more humble origins could not commonly afford a college education if they did not hold a scholarship. The poverty of Scotland also damaged St Andrews, as few were able to patronise the university and its colleges -state support being improbable- and the income these ones got was scarce. Hence Samuel Johnson's depiction of St Andrews as a place of quiet decadence.

In 1747, severe financial problems triggered the dissolution of St Leonard's College, whose properties and staff were merged into St Salvator's College to finally form the United College of St Salvator and St Leonard.

In the 19th century, St Andrews offered a traditional education based on classical languages, divinity and philosophical studies, and at that time was slow to embrace more practical fields such as science, medicine and law that were the vogue. Perhaps partly in response to this and to the low number in pupils, the university merged with University College in St. Andrews in 1897, which became a centre of medical, scientific and legal excellence. This affiliation ended in 1967 when the college, renamed Queen's College, became a separate and independent institution as the University of Dundee. The loss of teaching facilities for clinical medicine caused the university's Bute Medical School to form a new attachment with the University of Manchester, which was then expanding its clinical medicine intake.

After the foundation of University College, the decadence of St. Andrews came to an end. It became increasingly popular amongst the Scottish upper class to send their children to their oldest higher learning institution, and the university soon enough saw a renaissance that has been maintained to date. Its current world-class reputation in teaching and research consistently place St Andrews as the top university in Scotland and often amongst the top five in the UK, according to annual league tables produced by The Times, Sunday Times and The Guardian.(see Rankings of universities in the United Kingdom) The Times Higher Education World Universities Ranking named St Andrews among the world’s Top 20 Arts and Humanities universities in 2010.