Recent alumni include the former first minister of Scotland Alex Salmond; former Cabinet Secretary Mark Sedwill; former Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) Alex Younger; Olympic cycling gold medalist Chris Hoy; Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations Dame Barbara Woodward; and royals William, Prince of Wales, and Catherine, Princess of Wales.

[15] Wardlaw then successfully petitioned the Avignon Pope Benedict XIII to grant the school university status by issuing a series of papal bulls, which followed on 28 August 1413.

[21] At its foundation in 1538 St Mary's was intended to be a college for instruction in divinity, law, and medicine, as well as in Arts, but its career on this extensive scale was short-lived.

[24] The poverty of Scotland during this period also damaged St Andrews, as few were able to patronise the university and its colleges, and with state support being improbable, the income they received was scarce.

[25] In 1876, the university senate decided to allow women to receive an education at St Andrews at a level roughly equal to the Master of Arts degree that men were able to take at the time.

[26] In 1889, the Universities (Scotland) Act[27] made it possible to admit women to St Andrews formally and to receive an education equal to that of male students.

[29] Having matriculated, Agnes Forbes Blackadder entered the university in 1892 and became the first woman to graduate from St Andrews on the same level as men on 29 March 1895, when she gained her MA.

Wilson was one of six original justices appointed by George Washington to the Supreme Court of the United States and was a founder of the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

In 2009, Louise Richardson, an Irish-American political scientist specialising in the study of terrorism, was drawn from Harvard to serve as the first female Principal and Vice Chancellor of St Andrews.

[45][46] Media reports indicate growing numbers of American students are attracted to the university's academics, traditions, prestige, internationalism, and comparatively low tuition fees.

[59] Clinton received an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws and provided the graduation address, in which she said, I do take comfort from knowing there is a long tradition of Americans being warmly welcomed here at St Andrews.

[93] An independent report conducted by Swedish investment firm, Skandia found that despite its small undergraduate body, St Andrews is the joint-5th best university in the UK for producing millionaires.

[citation needed] To commemorate the university's 600th anniversary the 600th Lecture Series was commissioned in 2011, which brought diverse speakers such as former prime minister Gordon Brown, naturalist David Attenborough and linguist Noam Chomsky to St Andrews.

[127] St Andrews has developed student exchange partnerships with universities around the globe, though offerings are largely concentrated in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Among its collections are the remains of several extinct species such as the dodo and Tasmanian tiger as well as fossilised fish from the nearby Dura Den, Fife, which when found in 1859 stimulated the debate on evolution.

[156] From September 2015 onward, students have had the option of living in alcohol-free flats in David Russell Apartments on the grounds of medical conditions that do not allow drinking or for religious reasons.

[158] The university also funds and administers the international St Andrews Prize for the Environment established in 1998, which awards $150,000 annually to three environmental projects around the globe.

The wind farms were expected to be operational by 2017 and bring an estimated £22 million boost to the local and national economy saving 19,000 tonnes of carbon annually.

[188] Blind Mirth is the university's improvisational theatre troupe, which performs weekly in the town, and annually takes a production to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The club has received criticism from the university's former principal, Louise Richardson, and alumna the Duchess of Rothesay, over its previously male-only admission policy.

Nos ingenui adolescentes, nomina subscribentes, sancte pollicemur nos preceptoribus obsequium debitum exhibituros in omnibus rebus ad disciplinam et bonos mores pertinentibus, Senatus Academici autoritati obtemperaturos, et hujus Academiae Andreanae emolumentum et commodum, quantum in nobis sit, procuraturos, ad quemcunque vitae statum pervenerimus.

Item agnoscimus si quis nostrum indecore turbulenterve se gesserit vel si parum diligentem in studiis suis se praebuerit neque admonitus se in melius correxerit eum licere Senatui Academico vel poena congruenti adficere vel etiam ex Universitate expellere.In English: We students who set down our names hereunder in all good faith make a solemn promise that we shall show due deference to our teachers in all matters relating to order and good conduct, that we shall be subject to the authority of the Senatus Academicus and shall, whatever be the position we attain hereafter, promote, so far as lies in our power, the profit and the interest in our University of St Andrews.

Undergraduates in Arts and Science subjects can be seen wearing these garments at the installation of a rector or chancellor, at chapel services, on 'Pier Walks', at formal hall dinners, at meetings of the Union Debating Society, and giving tours to prospective students and visitors as well as on St Andrews Day.

Bejant (Bejan) is a French term (bec jaune) meaning yellow beak or nestling, borrowed from the university of Paris and used to refer to first-year male students; females being described as Bejantines.

[218] Notable University of St Andrews alumni include King James II of Scotland; United States Declaration of Independence signatory James Wilson (1761); Governor General of Canada John Campbell; discoverer of logarithms John Napier (1563); founder of the Church of Scotland and leader of the Protestant Reformation John Knox (1531); notable Leader of the Church of Scotland Thomas Chalmers; founder of and the first chancellor of the University of Glasgow William Turnbull; founder of the University of Edinburgh Robert Reid; founder of the world's first commercial savings bank Henry Duncan (1823); journalist and politician during the French Revolution Jean-Paul Marat (1775 MD); inventor of beta-blockers, H2 receptor antagonists and Nobel Prize in Medicine winner James W. Black (1946 MB ChB); the 'father of military medicine' Sir John Pringle, 1st Baronet; pioneer of the smallpox vaccine Edward Jenner (1792 MD); the 'father of medical services in Pakistan' Wajid Ali Khan Burki (1924 MB ChB); William, Prince of Wales (2005) and Catherine, Princess of Wales (2005).

Other notable businesspeople include Banker Olivier Sarkozy, director of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Alistair Moffat and the CEO of Scottish Rugby Union and ATP World Tour Finals Phil Anderton.

Former St Andrews students active in politics and national intelligence include two Chiefs of MI6 Alex Younger and John Sawers, two deputy directors of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), George Kennedy Young and J. M. Bruce Lockhart, Secretary of State for Scotland Lord Forsyth (Forsyth is also former deputy chairman of JP Morgan), former First Minister of Scotland and leader of the SNP for over 20 years Alex Salmond, former Cabinet Secretary and head of the Civil Service Sir Mark Sedwill, former Secretary of State for Defence Sir Michael Fallon, Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats Malcolm Bruce and leader of the Christian Party James George Hargreaves.

Outside of the UK, alumni include the financial secretary of Hong Kong credited with laying the foundations for Hong Kong's economic success John James Cowperthwaite, former senior director for European and Russian affairs on the United States National Security Council, Fiona Hill, David Holmes (both were involved in the Impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump),[220] and the first female cabinet minister in Egypt Hikmat Abu Zayd.

Alumni from the media and the arts include founder of Forbes magazine B. C. Forbes, founder of The Week Jolyon Connell, former Downing Street Director of Communications and former controller of BBC World News Craig Oliver, political editor of BBC Scotland Brian Taylor, BBC News presenter Louise Minchin, BBC Sport TV presenter Hazel Irvine, editor of Tatler Richard Dennen, Primetime Emmy Award winning screenwriter David Butler, Pulitzer Prize winning author James Michener, feminist writer Fay Weldon, poet Len Pennie, musician The Pictish Trail and actors Siobhan Redmond, Crispin Bonham-Carter, Ian McDiarmid, David Caves and Jonathan Taylor Thomas.

The university also boasts of a rich roll of honorary graduates whose members vary from Benjamin Franklin to Hillary Clinton, from Bob Dylan to Arvo Pärt, from Maggie Smith to Sean Connery, from Nora K. Chadwick to Martha Nussbaum,[221] from Joseph Stevenson to Lisa Jardine, from Seamus Heaney to Bahram Beyzai, from Georg Cantor to David Attenborough.