Principal's Appeal 2024
Letter from the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of St Andrews Professor Dame Sally Mapstone DBE FRSE for the Principal's Mailing Appeal 2024, part of the Making Waves Campaign.
Dear parents and family members
This semester marks the beginning of my ninth year at the University, and I was delighted to be able to share this anniversary with so many of you at the Parents’ Receptions in September. I came to St Andrews from Oxford in 2016, and I can truly say that it is one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life.
I hope that those of you who visited St Andrews during Orientation Week discovered that it is a place like no other. While our University is small enough to be intimate and friendly, it is large enough to be international and energetic. It was the first university to be founded in Scotland in 1413, and it is amongst the 25 oldest universities still operating in the world. Although we cherish our traditions, we also see ourselves as outward-looking, innovative, and modern.
The most recent league tables recognise the University of St Andrews’ unique nature. We are top in Scotland and second only to Oxford in the UK in the Guardian University Guide 2025, we are Scottish University of the Year, second only to the London School of Economics in the UK (with Oxford and Cambridge ranked third and fourth respectively), and University of the Year for Student Experience in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025, and we are University of the Year for Student Experience in the new Daily Mail University Guide. St Andrews is also placed within the top 7% of universities worldwide in the QS world rankings – this ranks us alongside some of the finest institutions in the world.
These endorsements don’t just happen by accident. We have strategically channelled our funds to build for the future and support the experiences of our current students and staff. We have also made key decisions based on the five themes of our University Strategy for 2022-2027: World-leading St Andrews, Diverse St Andrews, Sustainable St Andrews, Entrepreneurial St Andrews, and Digital St Andrews.
Our newly-launched Making Waves Campaign supports the realisation of this Strategy by fostering world-class research, educating future leaders, and attracting and nurturing the brightest minds from around the world.
The Campaign will support a number of ambitiously transformative projects, including ‘New College’, the first college to be established in St Andrews since 1747. New College will be located on South Street in the heart of our medieval town. It will bring together our world-leading School of International Relations and the new University of St Andrews Business School to equip the next generation of leaders in business, finance and politics with the critical skills and knowledge they need to navigate the economic and geopolitical challenges of the future.
The development of a dynamic Digital Nexus building for the School of Computer Science – the first step in our 20-year masterplan for the Science and Medicine campus on the North Haugh – will enable us to generate an intellectual powerhouse of staff and student researchers from the Schools of Computer Science and Medicine and the Mackenzie Institute for Early Diagnosis.
We want to attract the most talented undergraduate and postgraduate students to St Andrews, regardless of their background or financial situation. However, postgraduate recruitment in the UK is currently facing challenges that place us at a disadvantage in a highly competitive market. Building long-term support for undergraduate and postgraduate scholarships is therefore crucial for continuing to attract and nurture the researchers, entrepreneurs, and leaders of the future.
It is also our ambition to build our endowment and create more Chairs and academic appointments so we can build on the existing excellence in our teaching, accelerate research in key areas of interest, and galvanise critical advances in knowledge and technology.
You can learn more about these and other Campaign projects on our Making Waves website.
Thank you for showing your commitment to St Andrews by being a member of our Family Programme and joining us on your student’s journey through to graduation – and maybe even beyond. You are playing a critical part in enabling us to achieve our full potential. With your support we can make waves and shape the future not only of our University, but of the world.
Yours sincerely
Professor Dame Sally Mapstone DBE FRSE
Principal and Vice-Chancellor
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