Supporting your students
Resources to support students whose behavior gives cause for concern, advice and support for students with a disability, support for students who have spent time in local authority care, support for those who have reported sexual harassment or assault, support from the careers service to recruit students and to create bespoke events and workshops and informing students of the Advice Place services and the support this offers
Support for Study policy
The Support for Study policy is a supportive way of assisting the small number of students whose behaviour gives cause for concern. It offers an alternative to disciplinary action when a student’s behaviour may be affected by health conditions or disabilities.
In such cases, the Student Adviser/Cohort Lead or member of the relevant School's Student Support Team will normally raise any concerns with the student initially and seek to explore the issues that are causing concern.
If there continue to be concerns about a student's behaviour, the matter may be referred to the relevant College Support for Study panel.
Support for disabled students
The Disability & Learning Support Service offers an extensive range of advice and support for disabled students. This includes students with specific learning difficulties eg dyslexia, and also those on the autistic spectrum, students with a diagnosis of a long standing mental health condition as well as those with physical or sensory impairments. The service can support students to apply for additional financial support eg. Disabled Student Allowance and plays a key role in identifying adjustments and communicating these to School staff. The service also provides information, support, and guidance and can develop bespoke training opportunities for staff to assist them to develop their understanding of student disability matters and to deliver effective services to disabled students.
Support for students who have been in care
Students who have spent time in local authority care before they come to university may be particularly vulnerable. They may not have the family support and advice that we expect most students to be able to rely on, they may not have a 'home' to go back to in the holidays, and they may be particularly at risk of financial hardship.
There are a small number of students at the University who have disclosed to us that they have a background in care but there may be others who have chosen not to tell us. It is important that we are aware that any of our students could be care-experienced, that we are alert to their needs, and that we take this into account when we provide them with advice and support.
Under the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, the University is a Corporate Parent, which means that we have particular responsibilities towards young people who have experience of being in care. Corporate parents have a duty to uphold the rights and safeguard the wellbeing of care-experienced young people. This means that the University as a whole must work together to make sure that our care-experienced students are safe, healthy and cared for, and help them to succeed.
The University’s Corporate Parenting Strategy outlines the support that we as an institution offer to care-experienced students.
Corporate Parenting Strategy (pdf)
The University’s main point of contact for care-experienced students can work with you to support them to thrive and to get the most out of their time here:
edinburghcares.ed.ac.uk
Support for students who report sexual harassment or assault
The University will not tolerate sexual misconduct within its community and is committed to supporting any students who are victims of sexual misconduct and to taking the appropriate action regarding those who act in a sexually inappropriate fashion.
Sexual misconduct may take many forms. In addition to sexual assault, it includes sexual harassment, i.e. any behaviour that is humiliating, intimidating or hostile and may include actions like derogatory name calling, belittling remarks, insults, threats, unwanted personal attention. Anyone can be subjected to sexual harassment regardless of their sexuality, gender, race, religion, or disability.
Support for students who are the victim of sexual harassment or assault is a specialist matter and it is not expected that non-specialist staff provide this sort of support. However a student who is the victim of sexual assault or harassment may decide to disclose it to any member of staff. These short guidelines have been created to assist staff who may need to have such a conversation and refer the student on for more specialist support elsewhere.
Contact the Equally Safe Team
The University have the Equally Safe Team dedicated to supporting students and staff dealing with student disclosures. Please contact them at equallysafe@ed.ac.uk
Guidance on Contacting Student Trusted Contacts
On some occasions, it is appropriate to contact a student’s trusted contact if you have exhausted attempts to contact the student, or in an emergency where there is an urgent risk to the student’s immediate health or safety. You must make sure that you have considered whether the situation warrants this, and have sought the appropriate authority to make contact from a designated ‘Authoriser’, as listed in the guidance below
IAD support for student study skills (undergraduate and postgrad
uate taught students)
Information from the IAD on support for student study skills for Student Advisers, Cohort Leads (UG and PGT) and other colleagues (eg PGT programme directors and administrators, UG course organisers and student support teams).
Key support for undergraduate students:
For new UG students, we have a new quick-start guide for learning at university on LearnBetter as well as more in-depth resources for effective studying for continuing students.
English language support available from English Language Education (formerly ELTC).
We've also published our list of study skills workshops, full details and how to book.
If staff have any questions, queries or suggestions, please email us at iad.ug@ed.ac.uk
Key support for PGT students:
We have on-campus and online 'Getting Started' workshops and tips on how to succeed at masters level . Our workshops are available to self-book but are not open all the time, so students will need to check back in order to book on later workshops.
English language support available from English Language Education (formerly ELTC).
Staff and students can keep in touch via our blog and Twitter accounts.
If staff have any questions, queries or suggestions, please email us at iad.masters@ed.ac.uk
Career service support
Information and advice to help you support your students including resources for Student Advisers, PhD supervisors and how the Careers Service works with Schools.
EUSA Advice Place
EUSA’s Advice Place provides support on a range of issues including student funding, discretionary and emergency funds, money management, Council Tax and benefits, and on consumer and employment related matters. The Advice Place is a key EUSA service and provides confidential advice on all aspects of student life. Independent of the University it offers an advocacy and representation service.