Academic support

Support from your School

A range of trained staff will work with you to help make the most of your studies while you progress through your university career. 

Your School is the first place you should look for academic and pastoral advice and information. As a taught student, you will be introduced to your Student Adviser before you start, and they will continually help you find answers to your questions and direct you to other sources of information. As a research student, you will receive academic support from your supervisor throughout your studies. 

Student Advisers: professional services staff who are specially trained to provide you with support during your studies, when you need it. In addition to your Student Adviser, you can still speak to academics and teaching staff about subject or course-related questions. Your Student Adviser will work closely with these colleagues on any specialist study-related questions you have.  

Academic Cohort Lead: these are academic staff who 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 also have access to peer-to-peer learning networks as well as student societies.

Student Rep: each course will usually have students who are elected to represent their concerns and highlight your positive feedback. You will also have representation as part of the Edinburgh University Students’ Association (EUSA).  

How we support you

How to get support from your student adviser video

In this short video you can meet some of our student advisers and discover how to get support from your student advisers.

Support from each other

Connecting and building peer relationships is important to help you gain a deeper understanding of your academic area but also gives you an opportunity to socialise with like-minded students. Each School has a peer-learning scheme (commonly known as PALS) and you will be introduced to this group of students and what they do for you at the start of your studies. 

It is optional to join a PALS group, but highly recommended. 

Peer Learning Support

Support from other services

The people in your school community will advise you on most academic issues. They may also direct you to other services for more specialist support. The main academic support comes from the Library Services and the Institute for Academic Development (IAD).  

You can expect to find all the core texts you need for your courses in the library and useful study spaces. You will be able to access online journal articles and resources too. We recommend that you become familiar with your nearest library within your first few weeks as you will rely upon using it throughout your studies. There are regular tours of the libraries available as well as lots of helpful videos on how to use it effectively. 

University Library

Friendly, informal workshops, run by study development advisers in IAD take place 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. 

Institute for Academic Development (IAD)

They also have learning advice materials for taught students on the comprehensive Study Hub.

Study Hub

You can always get impartial advice about concerns with your academic support from the Advice Place 

Advice Place