Centre for Educational Enhancement and Development (CEED) for Taught Postgraduates

CEED (the Centre for Educational Enhancement and Development) helps students develop the skills they need for their academic studies and beyond. We do this via four strands of a programme called MSkills, which taught postgraduates can access via St Leonard’s College.

We help you make the most of your time in St Andrews: we recognise that it’s important for Masters students to integrate quickly and hit the ground running. To help with this we offer a number of Masters sessions in the first few weeks of semester including welcome events, and introduction to ‘mastersness’ and critical thinking workshops.

We help you get through your course: all Masters students can use our 1:1 service and make an appointment with one of our PhD tutors to help improve their study skills (e.g. essay writing, note taking, time management etc) or maths and stats skills (pure maths, applied maths, statistics*). Over 300 students make use of this service each year, and we also have an ‘ask a tutor’ email service where you can email a quick question to a tutor.

You also have the opportunity to self-study and sit exams for a Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) certificate which is a globally recognised IT qualification. Taking part in MOS is free of charge for students at St Andrews; something that’s not normally the case in other Universities.

We also will be running a series of dissertation writing workshops and a ‘dissertation bootcamp’ in the summer. Masters students are also welcome to join the PhD-led writers’ group which meets regularly all through the year. It offers a supportive group environment for studying and writing.

We help you get set for the workplace:

CEED powers the Professional Skills Curriculum which is a development programme open to all students, accessed through the Careers Centre. It comprises dozens of workshops that are delivered via online workshops, lectures, and practical skills sessions. We have everything from leadership to resilience; influencing skills to public speaking; project management to networking. You are welcome to dip in and out of the programme as you wish, but if you complete eight or more topics over an academic year and submit a reflective essay, you receive a certificate and your achievement is listed on your degree transcript. The PSC is endorsed by the Institute of Leadership and Management. There is also the opportunity to work towards a PSC+ Award in a more specialised skill area.

For more information on any of these initiatives, please visit the CEED webpages or you can view the CEED Video.