It will be one of the first UK Medical Schools whose research facilities are fully integrated with the other sciences and key university disciplines including physics, chemistry, biology and psychology, offering an important new dimension to medical research and the training of new doctors.

The development at the heart of the university's science campus on the North Haugh, St Andrews is being made possible in part by a donation of £8m from The Sekhar Foundation, the charitable arm of the Malaysian based Petra Group.

The School will be named after the late Dr B.C. Sekhar, an iconic figure in Malaysia's history and the father of the country's rubber and palm oil industries.

Subject to consultation, planning permission and other consents, it is hoped that construction will start later this year.