Kate Middleton and Prince William fell in love on the benches of St. Andrews University. In 2000, the future queen received her acceptance to the University of Edinburgh, her first choice. On her husband’s side, St. James’s Palace announced in a statement: “Prince William is obviously delighted and relieved to have been accepted to St. Andrews University and looks forward to studying there in a year.” The prince is taking a sabbatical year and so is his future wife. In 2001, during a charity fashion show, Prince William fell under the spell of Kate Middleton who paraded in a transparent dress. But it was not until their second year at the institution that they began a secret relationship.
The university where the couple Kate Middleton and Prince William were born is the third oldest in the English-speaking world. St. Andrews is also the first university in Scotland, it was founded in the 15th century. The first courses began in 1410 and it officially became a university in 1413. Today, St. Andrews, which is a very small institution with only about 8,000 students, is one of the best in the United Kingdom. As the school’s website points out, it is ranked fourth after Cambridge, Oxford and the London School of Economics in the Complete University Guide 2025. St. Andrews has also been named the number one university in the United Kingdom by The Times, the Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 and the Guardian University Guide 2024.
A university where you never get bored
On campus, St. Andrews students have a wide choice of extracurricular activities. The institution’s website explains that there are more than 150 student associations, in fields ranging from art to music, religion and culture. The university places great emphasis on sports, with over 50 clubs and 100 sports teams, as well as music.
In addition, St. Andrews has several traditions that liven up the campus all year round. For example, every year, students dress up and gather in St. Salvator’s Quad for an annual Raisin Monday foam fight. Or the May Dip, where at sunrise on May 1, students throw themselves into the North Sea at East Sands.
Excellence has a price
The future sovereigns of England, Kate and William, are the most famous students to have walked the steps of St. Andrews. But the university has also welcomed aristocrats, politicians, or famous athletes such as Alex Salmond, who was the First Minister of Scotland between 2007 and 2014, or the Scottish cyclist Chris Hoy. The institution has also had several famous Scottish academics as professors, including six Nobel Prize winners.
Studying at St. Andrews does not come without a hefty price tag. Scottish students are lucky enough to benefit from a government-set fee, with a year still costing them €2,100. Students from the rest of the UK must pay around €11,000 to attend classes. For international students, the fee is between €35,000 and €44,000 per year, depending on the field.
This article is originally published on gala.fr
