What to expect from the Advice Service
We are part of the Students’ Association, and we are independent of the University. Our focus is on explaining policies and procedures in a way that students understand and supporting you through these procedures to the best of our ability.
Upon receiving your enquiry, we will carry out an initial assessment to decide the best way to offer support. This may involve responding by email or arranging an appointment with you.
If we feel that email is the quickest and most effective way to address your concerns, we will contact you by email to offer guidance and support in resolving your issue.
If we feel that meeting with you, either in person or online, would be a more effective way to address your concerns, we will offer you an appointment at a convenient time. When you meet with us, we want you to feel comfortable and at ease. Our meetings are informal, relaxed and friendly. We recognise that you may be reaching out to us at a time when you are feeling stressed, upset, or scared, and we want to ensure that your experience with us does not add to those feelings.
The Student Advice Coordinator will listen to you and ask you questions so they can work out how best to support you and, if possible, provide you with the information you need to move your issue forward or resolve it. This may include signpost you to other supports where relevant.
Your appointments with us are confidential, and any personal information you share will be handled with care and in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Students’ Association Privacy Policy.
If there is a conflict of interest, we are unfortunately unable to advise you. Where two clients seek support in the same case (i.e., cases of collusion), we will advise the first client who contacted us. Second clients may be referred on or given general advice around procedure.
If you would like to complain about the service, you can complain to the Student Advice Coordinator who advised you, or through the formal channels of the Association Complaints Procedure.
How to Prepare for Your Appointment
Before your appointment, it’s helpful for you to:
- Send us any relevant documents you have been sent by the University, such as summons letters, email chains, and Turnitin reports, so your advisor can try to look through these before your appointment
- Prepare a concise overview of the main points of your situation that you want to discuss with the Student Advice Coordinator
- Think about any specific questions you would like answered
Points To Note
While we are here to support and guide you, we are not mental health professionals and are unable to provide therapy or counselling services. If you need emotional or mental health support, we encourage you to reach out to trained professionals, either within the University or externally, who can provide the appropriate care and support. We may also be able to help you access these services. The Advice and Support Centre provides advice and support on a range of wellbeing and mental health subjects, to help you get the most out of student life.
If we identify any immediate or serious concerns about your mental health or wellbeing, we will follow our confidentiality policy to ensure that you can receive appropriate support from the relevant services as quickly as possible.
Big Picture Impact
The Advice Service focuses on providing one-to-one support for students. The service also recognises and flags any patterns in situations students are facing and tries to find solutions to help all students!
Examples of this include:
- Working with the University to create a UK Guarantor scheme.
- Having conversations with schools regarding high influxes of the same type of case and seeing what early intervention is possible.
- Sharing policy feedback with the University to ensure students understand and have clear guidance. We currently have flowcharts on our webpages for different processes to improve clarity!
If you think there is a situation affecting many students, please email us and we will work to find a way to fix the situation and help as many students as possible!