Communicating with Schools

If you need to let your School know about circumstances it's normally best to send an email to the main School address or School secretary. It will then be forwarded to the people who need to know and you may be asked to give more details, or invited to meet to discuss further. There should also be guidance in your module handbook about who you need to contact in certain situations. Try to speak to your tutor/lecturer before the matter becomes urgent.

It is important to bear in mind that academic staff do much more than just teaching.  Lecturers also do research, publish articles/books, present work at conferences/other institutions, apply for grants, supervise a number of staff and students, perform administrative tasks and be part of committees, all alongside writing and giving lectures and tutorials and other teaching duties.  So, they may not always be in their office and free to see students. 

Sometimes it can be quite scary speaking to your lecturers - you might see them as big important people, who are difficult to approach. But whilst they are often leaders in their field, and extremely busy, part of their role is responding to student queries. This doesn't mean you can go and ask them for all the answers to your assignments, but it does mean that you shouldn't feel bad if you need to speak to them about circumstances affecting your work, or asking for a bit of direction to complete your assignments.

In terms of preparation; making a list of things you need to discuss helps to highlight the things that you really need to look at.  Make sure you've done enough background reading so that you can understand what you are discussing, you can't just expect to be given the answers.  It's best to go into the meeting with ideas so that you have something to start with.  Remember to scribble down some notes/key points during your meeting so that you don't forget what you've been told when you leave the room.

To contact your Adviser of Studies, it's best to email them. To find out who your Adviser is check your advising page. Once you know who it is, an easy way to find their contact details is by checking the lists of Advisers under documents on the  page. If you receive no response, try phoning or going to see them in person.