Science (International Year One) September 2021 entry

Students on this international year one science programme experience university teaching and research from the first day of their studies. This programme enables students to enter directly into the second year of undergraduate degrees in the Faculty of Science.

Based on your intended degree in the Faculty of Science, you will study subjects such as:

molecular and cellular biology
organic chemistry
physics
mathematics and statistics
Earth and environmental sciences
geography
programming languages in computer science
visual perception in psychology.

The programme has a high success rate with an average of more than 85% of students completing the programme successfully over the past four years. Graduates have gone on to study for degrees at the University of St Andrews and other top UK universities.

Depending on your degree, there is a wide range of career options available to you. Former Science Foundation programme students have done postgraduate degrees in the UK or USA, or are working in research and private and public companies in fields including scientific research and development, IT, banking, business and data analysis.

Applications for September 2021 entry are now closed

Course information for September 2022 entry will be available on this page by the end of September 2021.

Course type

International Foundation programme

This is the University’s own pre-degree programme which prepares international students for undergraduate study in the UK and at the University of St Andrews in particular.

Course duration

Nine months, full time

Course dates

Start date: 6 September 2021
End date: 13 May 2022

The schedule for this programme differs slightly from the standard University semester dates. All weeks from the programme start date to end date are teaching, in-class revision or assessment weeks, other than the following:

independent learning week: 18 to 22 October 2021
winter vacation and inter-semester weeks: 21 December 2021 to 14 January 2022
February vacation: 21 February to 25 February 2022.

This course is for:

International students who are academically able, but whose high school qualification is not recognised for application to an undergraduate degree at St Andrews. Foundation students typically use English as an additional language.

Who can apply

Do I need to have studied this subject before?

Applicants must have studied sciences at school and be able to offer strong grades in any subjects that are relevant to their intended degree. (e.g. Maths if you wish to study Computer Science; Physics if you plan to study Astronomy; Chemistry if you would like to do Biology).

Entry requirements

Academic requirements

Typical IFP academic requirements (2021-2022) (PDF) are listed alphabetically by country. If your qualification is not shown here, please email ifp@st-andrews.ac.uk about the grades needed from your high school system.

You can demonstrate that you have met the academic requirements with a high school transcript from your final year at school. Any high school qualification you use as evidence of your academic ability should be from the last year you attended high school and dated within the previous three years.

You should apply before your final results are available, as the University can make you a conditional offer based on your past exam performance and predicted grades.

English language requirement

All foundation applicants must submit a Secure English Test (SELT) as evidence of their English language ability, unless they have a UK passport.

See a list of approved English language tests and required scores for International Foundation programmes.

You do not need to have your result when you apply, as this can be a condition of an offer made by the University.

Application requirements

The University requires you to provide the following documents as part of your application:

your most recent high school transcript
a personal statement outlining why you wish to study Science at St Andrews and reflecting on your life and learning experiences to explain why you feel you would be successful on this programme
an academic reference from your high school on their letterhead or from a school email
your official English language test result.

Application deadline

The deadline for applications is Sunday 1 August 2021. You only need to provide your high school transcript and personal statement when you first apply so that the University can consider your application. Your academic reference and your English language evidence can be provided later.

How to apply

Reputation

The University of St Andrews as a whole was voted top in the UK for student academic experience in The National Student Survey 2020 as 92.7% of St Andrews final-year students gave the University top marks for the quality of the learning and teaching experience.

The University has secured a TEF Gold award for the quality of teaching and the undergraduate experience.

Video transcript

- If you're thinking of applying to St Andrews, you definitely should.

It's so rewarding. There are so many things you can do here.

Although it's a small town, the opportunities are completely endless.

>>FIONA: St Andrew's location is stunning. A small seaside town on the east coast of Scotland.

>>PROFESSOR JUDITH WOLFE: Close enough to places like Edinburgh, and frankly to all of Europe. We are connected while also being our own place.

>>HENRY: For me, the best thing about St Andrews is the fact that it's such a small town, but yet it's got so many different opportunities within it.

>>THOMAS: Whether it's the societies or the sports clubs that you can get involved with. It's so much more than just academia.

>>DR JAMES RAE: St Andrews is a fantastic place to study because you get a university that has a strong research focus, but it's also a university that really values its teaching. We do that through having small class sizes, and through, I think, a really, a kind of strong community feel.

>>AABIYAH: The lecturers are really, really helpful. There's not this kind of hierarchy or anything. Everyone's really, really friendly and everyone's really trying to help out.

>>PROFESSOR KISHAN DHOLAKIA: Why does a person go to University? They want to expand their mind. They want to push the boundaries of what they know from a personal level and an academic level. It's not just education, it's research. Because they want to go to a place that is pushing the frontiers of human knowledge.

>>DR DHARINI BALASUBRAMANIAM: We look for people who are willing to question what they are taught and willing to explore their subject in depth.

- We want people who are curious, who are motivated, who want to understand the world around them, and then apply that to make ideally the world a better place.

>>PROFESSOR CLARE PEDDIE: The University degree at St Andrews reflects the Scottish degree system. Students coming into first and second year can take subjects outside their intended degree specialisation and then specialise in their degree subjects in third, and fourth, and possibly fifth year.

- It just offers an opportunity to explore new subjects and it's kind of changed my way of thinking.

>>MARKUS: It really helped me to just explore different things and try out everything.

- St Andrews has a really big feel.

-You really get to know everyone. You see a lot of people that you know and you recognise.

>>RACHEL: Hall life plays such a big part in St Andrews. Living in halls has such a wonderful atmosphere.

>>SHUTONG: It is a really tight community.

- You get a lot of different students, you get to meet a lot of different people which you normally wouldn't meet.

- We come from very different educational backgrounds, so, therefore, we're all gonna have a different point of view. So, you know, you're not gonna have people that agree with you all the time or they're gonna pick up on things that you don't necessarily pick up on.

>>DR STEPHEN TYRE: With a St Andrews degree you can almost do anything because the skills that you learn here are attractive to employers.

>>PROFESSOR FRANK LORENZ MULLER: Our students go into all kinds of professional careers, whether that's the law, whether that's financial services, whether that's civil service or government. Many of them also go into further study.

- Our students tend to be in great demand from employers. We have companies that see character in graduates.

- The skills that students get here allow our students to be successful at getting jobs, and they seem to be equipped very well for a wide range of jobs.

- If you're thinking of applying, do it. Absolutely do it. It's been one of the best decisions that I've made.

>>SARA: St Andrews really isn't a place to be afraid of, but going to college is scary, because you don't know what you're gonna have when you get there, but it's really great here because it's so easy to feel like you have everything.

Course information

The Science programme is designed to help international students function effectively as undergraduates in one or more scientific disciplines. The course aims to ensure that students develop the analytical approach to learning and the physical skills which are required in a British university.

The structure of the programme provides students with a great deal of support in the first semester when it is most needed, but progressively enables students to work independently and collaboratively as they will do on their degree programmes.

The International Year One Science programme offers an intensive route into a wide range of degree programmes in the sciences. Depending on your intended degree, you will join science modules with first-year students from the beginning of the programme, and if successful, you may be able to progress directly onto the second year of your chosen degree.

Foundation programme classes integrate science and English language learning through their focus on writing laboratory reports, structuring essays, critical thinking and scientific methods of investigation.

Modules

The International Year One Science programme has four compulsory modules which cover the academic language and study skills you need to be successful at university. The remaining optional modules are subject-based - these will help you to enhance your scientific knowledge in preparation for undergraduate study, and to meet the specific subject requirements of your intended degree programme.

Semester 1
Semester 2

All students will study the same two compulsory modules in Semester 1:

Communicating in Academic Contexts 1: helps you develop and practise productive and receptive academic spoken communication skills to use within the Foundation programme and in your undergraduate programme.
Research and Writing for Science A: aims to explore a range of academic functions, features of academic style and organisation, and academic grammar and vocabulary in order to improve your overall academic literacy but with a focus on the texts you need to write for science. You will learn how to evaluate the reliability of a variety of published texts and develop your own academic voice.

You will also take one of the following subject modules delivered by the International Education Institute, depending on your intended degree:

Foundation Inorganic and Physical Chemistry
Mathematics A
Psychology A
Statistics for Mathematicians

Additionally, you will take one of the following Faculty of Science modules, which will be allocated to you based on your degree intention:

Biology 1 (for degrees in Biology, Neuroscience, or Psychology)
Introductory Inorganic and Physical Chemistry (for degrees in Chemistry)
Object-Oriented Programming (for degrees in Computer Science)
Understanding Planet Earth (for degrees in Earth Science)
Welcome to the Anthropocene: Society, Population, Environment (for degrees in Geography)
Mathematics (for degrees in Mathematics or Statistics)
Physics 1A (for degrees in Physics)

In Semester 2, all students will study the same two compulsory modules:

Communicating in Academic Contexts 2: helps you further develop and practise productive and receptive academic oral communication skills that you will need to draw on in your degree programme.
Research and Writing for Science B: further develops the skills introduced in Research and Writing Skills for Science A in Semester 1. Students will be working more specifically on more extended research skills using references, and using them to support arguments in science.

You will also take either one or two of the following subject modules delivered by the International Education Institute, depending on your intended degree:

Foundation Art History
Foundation Economics
Foundation English Literature
Foundation International Relations
Foundation Management
Foundation Mathematics
Foundation Medieval History
Foundation Philosophy
Foundation Physiology 1
Foundation Psychology 2
Foundation Statistics
Mathematics B
Psychology B

Additionally, you will take one of the following Faculty of Science modules, which will be allocated to you based on your degree intention:

Biology 2 (for degrees in Biology)
Organic and Biological Chemistry 1 (for degrees in Chemistry)
Programming with Data (for degrees in Computer Science)
Earth’s Resource Challenges (for degrees in Earth Science)
A World in Crisis? (for degrees in Geography)
Pure and Applied Mathematics (for degrees in Mathematics)
Statistics in Practice (for degrees in Statistics)
Psychology 2 (for degrees in Neuroscience or Psychology)
Physics 1B (for degrees in Physics)

The modules listed here are indicative, and there is no guarantee they will run for 2021 entry. Take a look at the most up-to-date modules in the module catalogue.

Teaching

Teaching format

Classes take place from Monday to Friday between 9am and 6pm. You will spend approximately 16 hours per week on focused learning activities. During this time, you will experience a mixture of live and recorded lectures, live online or face to face seminars or tutorials. Seminar classes are typically scheduled in groups of no more than 16 students.

As well as your timetabled classes, you will be expected to complete approximately 20 to 25 hours of independent study each week. As a fully matriculated student, you have access to the University’s libraries and study areas, but you will also work with the University's online learning tools (Moodle and Microsoft Teams).

Students are expected to do the following to prepare for classes and consolidate their learning:

read and take notes from paper or online textbooks, articles, and other online sources as required
undertake additional research and self-study through the University library and online
complete a range of homework tasks, individually and in groups
engage with feedback on both formative and summative assessments.

The University’s student services team can help students who have additional needs resulting from disabilities, long-term medical conditions or learning disabilities. More information can be found on the students with disabilities web page.

Assessment

There are assessments as part of each module. These include:

academic essays
end-of-module examinations
tests
speaking and listening exam
integrated skills exams (which include reading and writing on a topic)
leading and participating in seminars
a presentation
research projects
lab/practical or field trip reports

The grade from each module contributes to the final grade. Each module is equally weighted.

Meet us in your country

Staff of the University of St Andrews are always pleased to meet prospective students in person. We visit many schools, colleges and higher education fairs to talk about the University and provide support and information for those thinking about applying.

Meet us in your country

Join us for one of our information events where you can find out about different levels of study and specific courses we run.

Online information events

Fees

Tuition fees

The tuition fee for 2021 entry is £21,120, this fee includes:

access to all University facilities
a transfer from Edinburgh or Glasgow airport, or Leuchars train station, when you first arrive
the use of course books, handouts and other course materials

Fee guarantee

Students who progress onto Year 2 of their degree programme in 2022 will pay undergraduate fees at the 2021-2022 undergraduate entry price, rather than the 2022-2023 price. The fees will also be fixed at this rate for the duration of their degree.

Accommodation fees

The International Education Institute recommends that you request an en suite single room with either a self-catered or catered package as this ensures you have a place close to your classes and with other foundation students.

University accommodation is guaranteed for foundation students.

See fees and further information on the IFP accommodation web page.

Funding and scholarships

Kinnessburn Scholarship

Students who successfully complete the International Foundation programme with a distinction grade and move onto a degree at the University of St Andrews are eligible to apply for the Kinnessburn Scholarship. This scholarship is awarded to one student annually in June and provides a partial fee waiver for each year of study on an undergraduate programme at the University.

IFP September scholarship

If you are coming to study an International Foundation or International Pathway to Medicine programme in September 2021, and you receive your offer by the time the scholarship applications are reviewed, you can be eligible to apply for this scholarship.

Successful candidates receive £2,000 towards the cost of tuition fees.

The deadline for applications is Tuesday 30 March 2021. Find out more about the IFP September scholarship.

“As part of my foundation course, I had the opportunity to attend Psychology lectures with undergraduate students and made a number of close friends. In my first semester, I took classes in reading, writing, and completed a number of related projects involving oral presentations. In my second semester, I was able to take classes that focused on project research. The Science (International Year One) programme allowed me to experience real university courses and helped me to prepare for study at an undergraduate level.”

Yoovin (South Korea)

Your future

Studying your degree at the University of St Andrews

There are many degree and post-study options available to successful foundation students.

In order to progress onto a degree at the University of St Andrews, students must achieve a final overall grade of 11.0 or above on the University’s 20-point scale. Other specific progression requirements are provided in the course handbook at the start of the programme.

Previous foundation students have stayed at St Andrews to study courses such as:

Biology
Biochemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry
Computer Science
Earth Sciences
Economics (from first year)
Geography
Mathematics
Neuroscience
Physics
Psychology
Statistics
Sustainable Development (from first year).

Students who meet the requirements for second year entry in the Faculty of Science have the option to progress onto a single Honours degree or a limited number of joint Honours degrees.

Students may exceptionally request to be considered for entry onto Year 1 of degree programmes in the Faculty of Science, following completion of the International Year One Science programme. Such requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis, taking into account both student performance, and capacity within the relevant subject area.

Studying your degree at another university

Previous foundation students have also used their foundation qualification to study degrees at other universities, in subjects such as:

Artificial Intelligence
Actuarial studies
Engineering

Students who pass the foundation programme but do not wish to stay in St Andrews can receive advice and assistance with applications to other institutions in the UK.

Join a webinar

The International Education Institute offers webinars to prospective International Foundation students who would like more information about St Andrews, university life and the application process at the University.

See upcoming webinars

Contact

International Foundation programmes

International Education Institute
University of St Andrews
Kinnessburn
Kennedy Gardens
St Andrews
KY16 9DJ

Phone: +44 (0)1334 46 2255
Email: ifp@st-andrews.ac.uk

International Education Institute

Policies

Admission to the University of St Andrews is governed by our admissions policy.

Information about all programmes from previous years of entry can be found in the archive.

Curriculum development

As a research intensive institution, the University ensures that its teaching references the research interests of its staff, which may change from time to time. As a result, programmes are regularly reviewed with the aim of enhancing students' learning experience. Our approach to course revision is described online.

Tuition fees

The University will clarify compulsory fees and charges it requires any student to pay at the time of offer. The offer will also clarify conditions for any variation of fees. The University’s approach to fee setting is described online.