St Andrews: always the best university
Following the announcement that St Andrews has been ranked number one university in the UK by both the Guardian and The Times and Sunday Times University Guides 2024, David Rutnam, BSc Chemistry 1981, reflects on how, for him, it has always been the best.
When I applied to St Andrews back in 1976 to study Chemistry, it was on the premise that I was to achieve a C in the subject at A Level and a D in either Maths or Physics (not both!). Despite its reputation for academic excellence, the entry requirements at the time were a far cry from what students are tasked with securing today.
The news that St Andrews has made history by becoming the first university apart from Oxford or Cambridge to top both the Guardian and The Times and Sunday Times league tables has prompted me to reflect on my own student days here.
My grandfather, father and younger brother all attended Cambridge and treated St Andrews like some lesser university. It gives me great pleasure that they couldn’t say that now!
Having achieved the necessary grades (and in fact a notch or two better), my St Andrews story started in 1977. I remember my first day as if it were yesterday. I had not even attended an interview or visited the town prior to matriculation, so I was turning up blind, so to speak. I came from North Kent and the furthest north I had been before was Peterborough!
But for the keen golfer that I was, it was like coming home. I spent my first afternoon standing by the 18th green on the Old Course. I couldn’t believe I was truly at the Home of Golf.
Scotland was so different from Kent: the place, the people and the politics!
Late 1970s UK was very polarised politically. We had a vote for Scottish devolution that trailblazed the later referendum. I recall meeting Alex Salmond, politician and former First Minister of Scotland, when I was in my first year and he in his fourth.
North East Fife (along with a majority of constituencies) returned a Conservative MP in the 1979 election, which resulted in Margaret Thatcher becoming prime minister – a result that was met with mixed feelings by some of the Scottish students! Ronald Reagan became US President in 1980 and I remember watching the coverage until the early hours.
There were many US students at the University in those days (attracted, I suspect, by the pricing structure). It was therefore a fascinating time to be here, with these changes in the political landscape in the UK and US resulting in a plethora of different opinions.
Since my graduation (in absentia) in 1981, I have enjoyed seeing the reputation and status of St Andrews rise towards its rightful place at the top of the various tables. Rankings aside, though, it has always been the best university for those of us who were lucky enough to go there.
I may have left there 42 years ago, but my heart is always in St Andrews