ISSOS Summer School at the University of St Andrews

Each student takes one academic subject and one elective. Academic classes run for three hours every weekday and are taught by qualified teachers who are working professionals in their fields. The academics offered at St Andrews are Business and Entrepreneurship, Creative Writing, Debate, English Language, the IB Extended Essay, Study Skills and Youth Leadership. The elective meets on four afternoons each weekday and can be Art, Film, Golf, Tennis or Theatre.

The programme is all-inclusive. The fee covers academic and elective tuition, accommodation with full board, course materials and equipment, all full and half-day cultural trips and excursions, evening activities and Sunday workshops, insurance, ISSOS clothing and branded merchandise, cultural events, the ISSOS Highland Games, an academic report, a completion certificate, transport between the selected airport and the campus, and the online English level assessment that forms part of the application. A registration fee is payable with the application and is part of the published total.

Students live in St Salvator’s Hall, a hall of residence of the University of St Andrews used exclusively by ISSOS for the summer school. It stands on a quiet street a few minutes’ walk from the centre of St Andrews, with private gardens and lawns at the front and views to the ocean and beach at the back. Bedrooms are single or twin and are allocated after applications close; every student has a desk, a wardrobe and a shelving area. Shared bedrooms are shared by two students of the same sex and around the same age. Bathrooms are shared between about six to eight students and are on every floor, next to the bedrooms.

All meals are included and are served in the oak-panelled dining hall inside St Salvator’s Hall.

Evenings and weekends are given over to the activity programme: evening programmes, clan events, Sunday workshops and the ISSOS Highland Games, together with full and half-day cultural trips to nearby Scottish cities and towns. All trips and activities are included in the programme fee.

The summer school has access to a range of university facilities across the St Andrews campus, and students live and eat in St Salvator’s Hall, which ISSOS uses exclusively for the duration of the programme.

ISSOS is an international summer school for students aged 13 to 18 from all over the world. Places are limited to ten per cent per nationality, and native and non-native English speakers are mixed at all times, so that the group stays genuinely international. St Andrews is Scotland’s oldest university, founded in 1413, and the town is known as the home of golf.