Support with your studies

Your Faculty Student Services are your first port of call for all queries and processes regarding the student journey, including completing the final stage of enrolment through to graduation. The team can offer advice and support on all aspects of your course, from submitting assignments and obtaining official letters to timetabling queries and module registration, amongst other queries you might need help with.

Academic coaches are allocated to every level 3 and level 4 student. They will assist students in their personal and academic development, planning and progression as well as helping them to liaise with other staff and support facilities in their faculty and the wider University.

Above Level 4, you will be allocated a personal tutor who is a member of the academic staff in that area - they will continue to support your studies, but with a focus much more on your subject and the specific academic and research skills required. You can find out who your personal tutor is in e:Vision.

Within your Faculty Student Services team, you can also access more specialist support. Student Advisors are on hand to talk to you about: applying for extensions, extenuating circumstances, leave of absences, course transfers, University regulations and policies and any other concerns that may be affecting your studies.

The Skills for Learning team is made up of 7 Skills Librarians, trained in supporting general assignment skills such as academic writing, research skills and referencing. Have a look through the Skills for Learning web pages to see their workshops, Canvas courses, study guides and other useful resources to support your learning.

Students can self-certify their own sickness absence for up to seven days a maximum of three times a year to cover any times when it might be difficult to obtain medical evidence of short term illness. Through this self-certification process, students will be able to get an extension of up to seven days on their assessment without penalty.

This process is completed in e:Vision. 

The University's fit to sit and extenuating circumstances policy aims to ensure that students only submit assessments when they are fit to do so and that no student is disadvantaged by circumstances beyond their control.

When you submit an assignment or sit an examination, you declare that you are fit to do so. However, if you have an illness or personal difficulty that you think will affect your performance in one or more modules, or you are unable to attend a formal examination, you should make a claim for extenuating circumstances through e:Vision before or on the assessment date.

If your claim is accepted, you will generally be offered the opportunity to take the assessment, as if for the first time (with no grade penalty), within the current year.

You can contact your Faculty Student Services via the e:Vision helpdesk for more information.

Penalties for late submission of assessments:

• 10% reduction in mark for assessments submitted up to 48 hours after the deadline
• 20% reduction for assessments submitted 3-7 days late.

However, no assessment will be reduced from a pass to fail through this process – all reductions will stop at the pass mark.

If you experience problems, whether medical or personal, which will affect your ability to study for an extended period (i.e. more than a couple of weeks), you might want to consider applying to the University, through e:Vision, to take a temporary break from your studies in the form of a Leave of Absence. This can be for a minimum of one and a maximum of four semesters (2 years).

Your Faculty Student Services will be able to offer advice if you become pregnant and/or need to take parental/adoption leave during your studies.

The University sets maximum registration periods (the maximum amount of time a student can be registered on a course) for all its programmes, which are set out in the academic regulations. Considering the pandemic's impact on students, we have approved a one-year extension to the maximum registration periods for all students studying in the previous two academic years (2020/21 and 2019/20) across all awards.

For example, an undergraduate student usually has a maximum of two years to complete Level 4 of their studies. This has now temporarily been extended to three years to compensate for the disruption.

Please note there may be funding implications for extending your studies over a longer period, and you should seek advice from student services or the SU Advice and Representation Centre.

We remain committed to supporting all of our students in helping them to complete their course on time, but we want to ensure that those who have faced significant barriers are supported over the longer term.

Progression to the next level of your studies will be determined by our existing regulations (i.e. students are required to have passed 80 credits). Therefore, you must do your utmost to engage with your teaching, learning and assessments as fully as possible.

For some programmes (for example, those involving performance or practice-based assessments), decisions on progression may need to be based on alternative criteria. If this affects your course, you will receive further information from your tutors.

All students who were studying at Levels 5, 6 or 7 in March 2020 following the first lockdown will have their awards classified, whenever they graduate, in accordance with the temporary algorithm which was approved during the pandemic to ensure that no student would be disadvantaged by our sudden transition to online teaching and assessment at that time.

Undergraduate degrees (for students who were studying at level 5 or 6 in 2019/20)

• The best 120 credits at level 5 and 6.
• No requirement to include credits from the independent project module.

Top-up degrees (for students who were studying on their course in 2019/20

• The best 60 credits from your year of study.

Masters degrees (for students who were studying on their course in 2019/20)

• The best 80 credits from your course.
• No requirement to include credits from the independent project module.

Postgraduate research programmes

• Students should speak to their director of studies to apply for an extension or leave of absence.

Degree apprenticeships

• We are working with regulatory bodies on the delivery of End Point Assessments.

Programmes accredited by a professional body

• Professional bodies may set out some additional requirements for accredited programmes. If this affects your course, you will receive further information from your tutors soon.