Sustainable Development MA (Honours)

Program Overview

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Overview

• UCAS code: F891
• Start date: September 2025
• End date: September 2029
• Duration: Four years full time
• School: School of Geography and Sustainable Development

Entry Requirements

The University offers different entry requirements, depending on your background. Find out more about Standard, Minimum and Gateway entry requirements using academic entry explained and see which entry requirements you need to look at using the entry requirements indicator.

• SQA Highers

  • Standard entry grades: AAAB
  • Minimum entry grades: AABB
  • Gateway entry grades: Applicants who have narrowly missed the minimum entry grades, but meet the University's contextual criteria, may be interested in one of the University’s Gateway programmes.

• GCE A-Levels

  • Standard entry grades: AAA
  • Minimum entry grades: ABB

• IB points

  • Standard entry grades: 38 (HL 6,6,6)
  • Minimum entry grades: 36 (HL 6,5,5)

General Entry Requirements

All applicants must have attained the following qualifications, or equivalent, in addition to the specific entry requirements for individual programmes.

• SQA qualifications

  • SQA National 5 (B) in English and one SQA National 5 (B) from the following:
    • Biology
    • Chemistry
    • Computing science
    • Geography
    • Applications of Mathematics
    • Mathematics
    • Physics
    • Psychology.

• GCSE qualifications

  • GCSE (5) in English language or English literature, and one GCSE (5) from the following:
    • Biology
    • Chemistry
    • Computing Science
    • Geography
    • Mathematics
    • Physics
    • Psychology.

Other Qualifications

We accept a wide range of qualifications for entry on to our programmes. Please see our entry requirements for more information.

Do I Need to Have Studied This Subject Before?

No previous knowledge of this subject is required.

Alternative Study Options

Master of Arts (MA)

Sustainable Development is available as both a Bachelor of Science (BSc) and a Master of Arts (MA) degree. The content of the subjects is the same irrespective of Faculty. Students who have a background in the arts or who wish to study Sustainable Development alongside Art subjects at St Andrews should apply for the MA. For those interested in studying Sustainable Development alongside Science subjects, the BSc in Sustainable Development may be of interest instead. The entry requirements are the same for all single Honours Sustainable Development degrees.

Study Abroad

Sustainable development students can apply to participate in the University-wide St Andrews Abroad programme. You may also have the opportunity to participate in the School Abroad exchange programme.

International Applicants

If English is not your first language, you will need to provide an English language test score to evidence your English language ability.

Course Details

The MA (Hons) in Sustainable Development is a four-year course run by the School of Geography and Sustainable Development.

Your first two years of study illustrate the breadth of issues involved in sustainable development as well as how to move from unsustainable to sustainable development.

Alongside sustainable development, in the first year of your studies, you will be required to study an additional two subjects. In the second year you will usually carry on at least one of these subjects, sometimes two.

The knowledge you gain will prepare you for your final two years, during which you will have the opportunity to choose from a range of modules from different Schools. These modules allow you to pursue your specific interests and explore the practice of sustainability through specific field visits. Subjects in these modules include (but are not limited to):

• climate change
• development
• environmental management
• environmental politics
• ocean governance
• sustainable technologies
• social justice
• urban sustainability

During your final year, you may also complete a dissertation module which focuses on a topic of your choice, with structured support from a member of staff in an appropriate school.

The University of St Andrews operates on a flexible modular degree system by which degrees are obtained through the accumulation of credits.

Modules

In the first two years of your degree (known as sub-honours), you will take required modules in sustainable development alongside modules in at least one other subject.

Typically, you will take one sustainable development module per semester for your first 3 semesters and two in your 4th semester. For Honours level (your third and fourth years), you choose from a range of Honours modules.

• First year
• Second year
• Honours

Students will take the following compulsory first-year modules:

• What is Sustainable Development?: provides an introductory overview to Sustainable Development, such as social justice, human well-being, inter-generational equity and environmental stewardship.
• Sustainable Development Goals: Challenges and Opportunities: offers detailed investigation of a selection of core issues in sustainable development - and how these issues are addressed by key players.

Students will take the following compulsory second-year modules:

• From Sustainable Development to Human Security: focuses overarching approaches for developing sustainability solutions, whose interests they represent, their implications on the "individual", the benefits and trade-offs.
• Changing Natures: develops student appreciation of the diverse ways that natures are known, protected and changed. It explores the roles of people, politics and policies, and the nature of change that is required to meet contemporary challenges.
• Sustainable Scotland: draws on Scotland’s unique landscapes, patterns of urbanisation, and the geography of population to examine interrelated issues of land use and social inequalities to the broader questions of sustainability here in Scotland

If you decide to take sustainable development in your third and fourth years, you choose from a wide variety of advanced options, modules previously offered include:

• Building sustainable, inclusive and just cities
• Extractive Environments
• Global Health Disparities
• Governance for Sustainability
• Green Politics: theory and practice
• Home and Energy Geographies
• The Blue Economy and Maritime Security Intersections and Interdependence
• The Nature of Political Ecology
• Transitioning to Sustainability: Community, Nature and Governance

You have the opportunity to undertake extensive training in research through a residential field course where you will learn how to conduct research, explore research methods and gain quantitative and qualitative skills.

In fourth year, students may complete a dissertation module that combines expertise from partner disciplines with an understanding of sustainable development in researching a topic of your choice.

Teaching

• Teaching format
• Assessment
• Support

Sustainable development is taught using a wide variety of methods including:

• lectures
• seminars
• laboratory classes
• tutorials
• field excursions
• research projects

At sub-honours level, class sizes range from 200 to 350 students for lectures, and up to 15 students for small-group tutorials.

At Honours level, much of the teaching is in small groups and there is a considerable amount of one-on-one contact with staff. Honours class sizes range from 15 to 40 students for seminars and laboratories down to individual supervisions.

When not attending lectures, tutorials and laboratory classes, you will be expected to continue learning independently through self-study. Typically, this will involve:

• working on individual and group projects
• undertaking research in a laboratory
• undertaking research in the library
• preparing coursework assignments and presentations
• preparing for examinations.

Sub-honours modules are assessed by a combination of coursework and end of semester essays.

At Honours level, sustainable development modules are assessed by a variety of methods that include coursework and examinations.

Modules run by contributing Schools have varying methods of assessment.

Examinations are held at the end of each semester during a dedicated exam diet with revision time provided beforehand.

The School aims to provide feedback on every assessment within three weeks to help you improve on future assessments.

Undergraduates at the University of St Andrews must achieve at least 7.0 on the St Andrews 20-point grade scale to pass a module. To gain access to Honours-level modules, students must achieve the relevant requisites as specified in the policy on entry to Honours and in the relevant programme requirements. To find out the classification equivalent of points, please see the common reporting scale.

You will be taught by an experienced teaching team with expertise and knowledge of sustainable development. Postgraduate research students who have undertaken teacher training may also contribute to the teaching of laboratory classes and seminars under the supervision of the module leader.

Fees

• Scotland: £1,820
• England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland, Channel Islands, Isle of Man: £9,535
• EU and overseas: £31,670

More information on tuition fees can be found on the undergraduate fees and funding page.

Accommodation Fees

Find out about accommodation fees for University accommodation.

Funding and Scholarships

The University of St Andrews offers a number of scholarships and support packages to undergraduate students each year.

Joint Honours Degrees

You can also take Sustainable Development as part of a joint Honours degree in which you will take core modules of your chosen subjects.

• Course name | UCAS code
  • Arabic and Sustainable Development (With Integrated Year Abroad) | TV82
  • Bachelor of Science (Honours) Biology and Sustainable Development | F896
  • Bachelor of Science (Honours) Economics and Sustainable Development | F893
  • Bachelor of Science (Honours) Geography and Sustainable Development | F802
  • Bachelor of Science (Honours) Management and Sustainable Development | F898
  • Bachelor of Science (Honours) Philosophy and Sustainable Development | RV48
  • Bachelor of Science (Honours) Psychology and Sustainable Development | CS82
  • German and Sustainable Development (With Integrated Year Abroad) | F884
  • Italian and Sustainable Development (With Integrated Year Abroad) | F883
  • Master of Arts (Honours) Arabic and Sustainable Development | F889

Careers

Given sustainable development’s high global profile, graduates with this degree are in demand because of their keen interest in the nature and future of the planet, and their skills in thinking critically and creatively about today’s key challenges.

Sustainable development students have a rare combination of quantitative and qualitative skills, an ability to integrate and analyse diverse data, and a deep understanding of human-environment interactions.

Career pathways for graduates include:

• conservation
• education
• development
• environmental management
• government
• non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
• impact assessment
• strategic planning and development
• the energy sector
• business and finance
• consultancy
• scientific research

The Careers Centre offers one-to-one advice to all students as well as a programme of events to assist students to build their employability skills.