Academic support

All online students have the same support as on-campus students. You will have access to a wide range of student support services to contact and help you during your time as an online student.

As you start your online studies you may be adapting to time management, learning new ways of studying remotely, or have personal circumstances to balance. 

Support from your School

Student advisers 

While you're studying with us, specially trained staff, academics and fellow students work together to provide you with guidance and support when you need it. Student Advisers are your main point of contact for support with your studies, wellbeing or practical matters. 

Student Advisers

Programme Director

Your programme director will support you with your programme of study and help you to connect with fellow students. 

These staff will be able to provide you with, or direct you to, appropriate support for challenges (either personal or academic) which may occur during your studies.

You will be supported academically by your personal tutor or programme director, who can be contacted by email, telephone, or live internet call. You will receive information about how to contact them through emails. 

Wellbeing advisers

Wellbeing Advisers can provide you with advice on wellbeing-related issues and recommend other specialist services, such as the Student Counselling Service or our Disability and Learning Support Service, who may be able to help you. 

EdHelp support

EdHelp provides clear and straightforward access to key student services, from one place.

Support from other services

The support network in your school will support and advise you on most academic issues. You may also be directed to other services for more specialist support. The main academic support comes from the Library Services and the Institute for Academic Development (IAD), and both services are easily accessible online.

Library Services

As an online learner or student, you can access a large number of library resources and services.

Using the library from a distance may be new to some students, but we are here to help, so don't hesitate to ask if you're stuck. 

Institute for Academic Development (IAD)

The Institute of Academic Development (IAD) offers you online study workshops, advice and self-paced learning resources.  These friendly, informal workshops, run by study development advisers in IAD, take place online throughout the semester to help you. You can find additional support for citations and referencing, preparing for exams, and a lot of useful advice and information on good academic practice. 

Online courses offered by the IAD

Online students can access our Study Hub learning resources at any time. These resources include advice on a range of issues from time management, to academic writing.

Succeeding at Masters Level

In addition to workshops and courses, the IAD provides online learning resources specifically aimed to help you succeed at postgraduate level study.

The section ‘Succeeding at Masters Level’ is an excellent source of advice to help you prepare for and succeed in studying at postgraduate level, including sections on preparing for your studies and preparing for change. There is also a useful introduction to the postgraduate level study and how it differs from the undergraduate level study.

 

English Language Development

There are a range of online resources that can help to support your English language development.

If you are looking for some further English language practice before you start your studies, we are able to direct you to a number of external resources that will be able to support your learning.

The British Council

The British Council have a range of free online resources to help learn English including videos, mobile apps, games, stories, listening activities and grammar exercises.

BBC Learning English

As part of the BBC World Service, BBC Learning English has been teaching English to global audiences since 1943, offering free audio, video and text materials to learners around the world.  Many of the BBC Learning English materials are delivered as full length courses but each component of the course is standalone and can also be studied on its own. You can find out more about our current and future courses on their webpages.

University of Edinburgh Lecture Series

The University also attracts a number of distinguished speakers from across the world to speak on a wide variety of topics.  You may wish to listen to some of these lectures available at the link below.

English Language Support

Once you are a student, you can access independent study materials from the University.

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