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The Deans' List Award

Aerial view of St Andrews

The Deans’ List is an annual award for academic excellence promoted by the Deans of the University.

The Deans are keen to reward the excellence and ambition of the very highest achievers and are certain that future employers and other educational institutions will take a close interest in graduates with one or more Deans’ List citations to their name.

The Deans encourage all students to work towards this award, an honour which will appear on their University transcript.

The Deans' selection is final and there will be no right of appeal.

The Deans’ List is award to eligible students after each module result reporting in early January, June, August and September each academic year. Should any result be reported outside these periods, the award will be awarded at the next reporting period.

Undergraduate Students

Undergraduate students who achieve an outstanding overall result in the course of any academic year will be considered for recording on the Deans’ List.

Criteria for inclusion on the Undergraduate Deans' list

Any Undergraduate student who meets the conditions below and who obtains a credit-weighted mean grade of 16.5 or above for the year will be considered for recording on the Deans' List.

  • The award is open to students studying on a full time, part-time or visiting basis and enrolled on graduating or non-graduating courses, with the exception of foundation or pre-sessional programmes, summer schools and living languages programmes.
  • Credits must be taken within the Faculties of St Andrews or as part of a formal Study abroad or Industrial placement.
  • Students are required to obtain a minimum of 20 credits in any academic year.
  • Students award with a grade of “0 XC” will automatically be disqualified.
  • Credits taken abroad as a WIYA or part of a Collaborative degree programme are not eligible
  • Students failing any module in a given year are automatically disqualified, unless the Fail result has been S-coded
  • S-Coded results can be excluded from the calculation of the credit-weighted mean

The calculation of grades and selection of students for the list will primarily take place over the summer, and students will be informed of their selection in a letter from the Dean of their Faculty (Arts/Divinity, Medicine or Science). Further awards will be made after the publication of results for Study Abroad and Industrial Placements

Taught Postgraduate Students

Postgraduate Taught students who achieve an outstanding overall result in the course of any academic year will be considered for recording on the Deans’ List.

Criteria for inclusion on the Taught Postgraduate Deans' list

Any Postgraduate Taught student who meets the conditions below and who obtains a credit-weighted mean grade of 16.5 or above for the year will be considered for recording on the Deans' List.

  • The award is open to students studying on a full time or part-time basis on taught postgraduate programmes (Graduate Diploma, Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma, Taught Masters programmes) or postgraduate research programmes with a taught element of at least 120 credits (MPhil, MFA).
  • Students are required to obtain a minimum of 20 credits in any academic year.
  • Students award with a grade of “0 XC” will automatically be disqualified.
  • Students failing any module in a given year are automatically disqualified, unless the Fail result has been S-coded.
  • S-Coded results can be excluded from the calculation of the credit-weighted mean

 The selection of students for the list will take place at the point of award and students will be informed of their selection in a letter from the Dean of their Faculty (Arts/Divinity, Medicine or Science

Postgraduate Research

Students on Postgraduate Research programmes with a taught element who achieve an outstanding overall result will be considered for recording on the Deans’ List at the point of award.

Criteria for inclusion on the Postgraduate Research Deans' list

Any research student who meets the conditions below and who obtains a St Andrews GPA (the credit-weighted mean of module grades), of 16.5 or above will be considered for recording on the Deans' List.

  • The award is open to students studying on a full time or part-time basis on postgraduate research programmes with a taught element of at least 120 credits (MPhil, MFA).
  • Students must successfully complete their intended or a higher award.
  • Students who complete a lower (exit) award are ineligible.
  • Students failing any module are automatically disqualified unless the Fail result has been S-coded.
  • S-Coded results can be excluded from the calculation of the credit-weighted mean.

The selection of students for the list will take place at the point of award and students will be informed of their selection in a letter from the Dean of their Faculty (Arts/Divinity, Medicine, or Science).

Note: Undergraduate Deans' list awards prior to the 2019-2020 academic year

Prior to the 2019-2020 academic year, the undergraduate Deans' list criteria were more stringent:

  • Only students taking no fewer than 120 credits counting towards an approved degree programme over the course of an academic year were eligible and all credits had to be taken within the Faculties of St Andrews.  Incoming students from other universities were eligible provided they meet all other criteria.
  • Students with any trailing credits, or taking reassessments in a given year, were automatically disqualified and anyone who received a 0X in any module immediately became ineligible for that year.
  • Any student who met all these conditions and who obtained a credit-weighted mean grade of 16.5 or above for the year was recorded on the Deans' List.
  • The rules were adapted for part-time students, or students who had to take a semester of leave of absence for medical or personal reasons, who must achieve the minimum credit-weighted mean of 16.5 in the pro-rata equivalent of 120 credits over the course of an academic year.