Every student at St Andrews is automatically a member of The University of St Andrews’ Students’ Association (aka Your Union).
We work to support students through three broad categories: Representation, Activities and Spaces.
We are the central hub for student groups, activities, and events; always aiming to make students University experience the best it can be.
Your Union exists to support students through their studies, share opportunities, and help them celebrate their achievements. A lot of what we do is run by students for students, this includes our 6 elected Sabbatical Officers who represent students and are the face of Your Union. We are led by The Students' Association Board.
We're registered as a charity in Scotland. This means that:
- We are not-for-profit: any income we generate from our commercial services goes straight back into funding student services.
- We’re governed by charity law: which has some implications on how we can spend our money.
- We’re accountable to our members: which means we’re constantly looking to help students better understand what we do, and how we spend our money.
Every penny spent in the Union goes straight back into funding all the amazing projects our students create.
We have over 140 affiliated societies and run 23 subcommittees (like a super-society where every student is automatically a member)! Our subcommittees range from On the Rocks – a student run arts festival; to the Charities Campaign – raising approximately £80,000 for charities in a normal year; and groups like the BAME and Disabled Students’ Networks and Saints LGBT+ – who represent and run events for our diverse student communities.
We support a wide team of student representatives, working on issues like equality, welfare, activities, sustainability, and education. We work closely with the Faculty Presidents, School Presidents, and Language Convenors to channel feedback to the University. We train and support over 350 Class Representatives, who help to ensure the quality of your educational experience in St Andrews.
We want to help with every aspect of student life. Our Advocacy Service provides free, independent, confidential, and non-directive advice to students having a problem at university. This includes academic alerts, appeals, complaints, and non-academic discipline cases. They can also help students with issues they might be having in private accommodation, like flat viewing, leases, and disputes with your landlord.
As well as representing, funding, and helping our students we put on some pretty great events too, from weekly club nights to all-building parties! We have three bars, a diner, one club, a fully equipped performance stage and two cafés, not to mention lots of spaces for student groups to meet as well as rooms to revise!