St Andrews University a brief history

St Andrews University

St Andrews University was founded in 1410 when a charter was issued to the St Andrews Cathedral Augustinian Priory. Pope Benedict XIII followed this by issuing a Papal Bull in 1413 to the University. Over one hundred years later a royal charter was given to St Andrews University in 1532. Some of the early college buildings date back to this period, such as St Salvator's Chapel and St Leonards College chapel and St Mary's College quadrangle.

In the 17th to 19th centuries, St. Andrews University struggled to a point that its very future was threatened. The severe financial problems in 1747 triggered the dissolution of St Leonard's College, which was merged into St Salvator's College to finally form the United College of St Salvator and St Leonard.

During this time St Andrews University pupil numbers were very low, an instance was recorded by Samuel Johnson when he visited St Andrews in 1773, he recorded that the university had only 100 pupils. In the 1870s, the student population had hardly risen at all, with fewer than 150 pupils recorded.

The big change in fortunes came about in the 19th century, when St Andrews University founded the University College in Dundee in 1897, as a centre of medical, scientific and legal excellence. After the foundation of University College, St Andrews University became increasingly popular amongst the Scottish upper classes who chose to send their children to Scotland's oldest higher learning institution, St Andrews University.

The relationship between University College and St Andrews University ended in 1967 when the college was renamed Queen's College and became a separate part of the University of Dundee.

Today St Andrews University's world-class reputation in teaching and research places it as the top university in Scotland and amongst the top five in the UK, as recorded by the annual league tables produced by The Times, Sunday Times and The Guardian.

The Times Higher Education World Universities Ranking named St Andrews University among the world's Top 20 for Arts and Humanities universities in the world in 2010.