Flexibility, friendships and the happiness factor
The academic freedom at St Andrews suited the ‘all-rounder’ Robert Bullard (BSc 1985), who matriculated in Geology and Chemistry, but graduated in Economics, and picked up a module in English along the way. Since graduating, his career has spanned overseas aid, local government, campaigning, journalism and business writing. He has remained firm friends with his academic sister from St Andrews and now, 40 years post-graduation, he shares his story – including his decision to endow an undergraduate scholarship.
I was always a bit of an all-rounder, so choosing my A Level and then degree choices was hard. I wasn’t particularly good at any one subject, but nor was I particularly bad at any. So, although I ended up taking A Levels in the sciences, thanks to St Andrews I was able to keep my degree choice open.
I had initially applied to study Geology and Chemistry at several universities, but the Scottish university system is fantastic, and at St Andrews I was able to pick up English and finally graduated in Economics in 1985. I wasn’t ready to decide what I wanted to do, so coming from the south of England, the breadth that Scottish universities offer suited me well.
A bold decision
Our family had friends in Scotland who we visited over the years, and I liked the feel of it. Although I never came to St Andrews before I arrived for Freshers’ Week; and it was my eldest sister who suggested I go there.
During Freshers’ Week, I did the usual things: it seemed to be just one party after the next, and I joined a lot of societies whose events I never attended! The exception was Third World First, whose posters I put up around the University and whose meetings I attended, usually held in the Chaplaincy. Indeed, although I am not religious, I found this a nice hubby-hole for working in during the afternoons; it was a lot quieter and less stressful than being in the main university library.
I lived in David Russell Hall, in one of the ‘mini’ blocks, which I think had about 16 flats and various shared facilities. During Freshers’ week someone suggested that a good way to meet people was simply to knock on neighbouring doors in my residence block, so that’s what I did. I knocked on the first few and there was nobody in. Not expecting any answers, I started to get bolder and knock louder and louder – and then, finally, someone responded. He was Scottish – from Edinburgh – and very charismatic. He smoked, and I remember he had an ash tray on a stand in his room, which I thought very suave. And he was passionate about Sibelius, of which I only knew a little. It made me realise that students come in all shapes and sizes!
Big fish, small pond
I like small places; I’d always prefer be a big fish in a small pond, so St Andrews’ size suited me down to the ground. And I think its academic families work really well for bonding people across different years and subjects. Indeed, I am still close to various people from my student days. I remain good friends with someone I acted with during my second year at university. And when I am in London, I regularly stay with a couple from my St Andrews days – he studied Economics with me. Meanwhile my academic sister is probably one of my very closest friends – even though she lives in Aberdeenshire and I’m in Oxford. She transferred to St Andrews after spending her first year in Aberdeen, and we bonded immediately over our mutual love of … muesli! In fact, I remember cycling out to her house one cold winter morning, as it was not on the breakfast menu in David Russell.
She and I keep in touch and see each another when we can. In fact, around ten years ago we met in St Andrews. I remember that I had just heard about a study into the best environments for children to learn. The key factor was happiness: the environment needs to be a happy one for children to learn well. I shared this with her, and we both remembered how happy we were in St Andrews. I certainly loved it, and it was one reason I did pretty well there.
The common thread of communication
In my third or fourth year, I decided I wanted to pursue a career in overseas aid. This required doing a Masters, which I did at London University, and in-between I spent a summer doing voluntary work in Zimbabwe, to get some overseas experience.
I have chopped and changed my careers several times since then. I worked in overseas aid until I was 30, when I moved into local government for four years, and after which I led an employment rights campaigning organisation for seven years. Then, aged 40, I set about achieving my teenage dream of becoming a journalist; I became a features writer for national newspapers. After the internet took off I diversified into helping businesses with their writing – as a trainer and copywriter. I have also done lots of copyediting/proofreading jobs, and I still help people write non-fiction books. Oxford is the ideal base for all of that. In fact, there has been a common thread throughout my career, written communication skills, and my breadth of courses at St Andrews prepared me well for that.
Scholarship support
I may live far away from St Andrews, and so don’t return there often, but it has always been prominent in my mind. However, I donated money in the early years of my career; and recently, when I inherited some money, I decided to use it to endow an undergraduate scholarship at St Andrews. My mother had done something similar for her college, here in Oxford. My aim is to help people who might otherwise find it financially hard to go to or be at university; but also to enable them to have as full an experience as I feel I did.
It is a pleasure to be able to give back to St Andrews – in return for everything it gave me.