Work starts on new medical school

The new medical school is expected to lead the way in cancer research

Work has begun on a £45m medical school at St Andrews University which it is hoped will advance medical science.

The development will be one of the first medical schools in the UK where research facilities are fully integrated with the other sciences.

An £8m donation from the Sekhar Foundation, the charitable arm of the Malaysia-based Petra Group, is going towards funding the project.

The school will be named after the iconic Malaysian figure Dr BC Sekhar.

He is regarded as the father of the country's rubber and palm oil industries.

The St Andrews project offers Scotland a unique opportunity to develop a new collaborative model for medical research and education and to set an international benchmark Dr Brian Lang Principal

It is hoped the building will be complete by January 2010 and will admit its first students in September of that year.

The donation from the Sekhar Group is one of the largest single donations ever given to a Scottish university.

Medical students studying at the new St Andrews complex will graduate with a BSc Honours in Medicine before going on to complete their clinical training in Edinburgh, Dundee, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Manchester.

The university also expects to expand its medical research capacity fourfold over five years.

Dr Brian Lang, principal and vice-chancellor, said: "This is a very significant development for St Andrews and for life sciences research in Scotland.

"We are determined that this should be a fully-integrated centre for medicine and the sciences which fosters true interdisciplinary collaboration.

"It is now clear that the most significant future advances in medical research will come in areas where there is the opportunity for unfettered collaboration between medicine and the sciences.

"The St Andrews project offers Scotland a unique opportunity to develop a new collaborative model for medical research and education and to set an international benchmark."