My service is here to teach students
about the things the University expects them
to be good at by the time they finish their degree. If a student ever has a question,
there's a specific person they come and see. I do all the Biology-related ones.
We’ve got somebody for the College of Arts, somebody for the College of Social Sciences,
and someone for Science and Engineering.
We’ve also got a fifth person, who is the Maths Adviser.
With first year students a lot of time of our guidance is about things like time management.
When you come to University there’s a few classes a week and all this extra time.
Students will say they didn’t realise quite how quickly the information was going to rack up.
When they’ve been at school or college before, they’ll be used to going over that in a
‘revision and then build on it’ kind of a way, with their teacher.
Whereas here, the lecturers might change day-to-day.
That’s probably most true in the scientific subjects. And then in
the Arts and Social Sciences, the biggest questions we get are about how do to reading.
So you get given a lot of texts to go off and deal with in your own time.
We talk to people about to how to change their grades from maybe a B or a C to an A or a B.
So a lot of the time they think that we’re there to catch them right at the bottom.
But that’s just not true.
Most of the people we see are doing quite well, and want to know how to do better.
We see students in three different ways, probably:
lectures, where we’ll come out to the students in their class timetable.
We’ve got workshops that we run at lunchtime. And they’ll be specific for a College,
so it won’t just be people in your class.
And the topics change, week by week.
The most common way that people come and see us in in one-to-one appointments.
We’ve got a booking diary online, and students can just pick a time that suits their schedule
and show up at our offices to talk about whatever topic they have got a question about,
whether it’s time management, how to study, how to write an essay.
Extra things that aren’t about the subject, but will help them get a better mark.
All of our offices are in the McMillan Reading Room
which most students call the Round Reading Room.
It’s a circular building in the middle of campus, just opposite the Main Gate.
We work as a general enquires service,
in a capacity where we might be dealing with enquiries to do with things like Council Tax
or academic documents that students require.
But we also provide a service where students can come to ask for advice about other services.
Such as the clubs and societies, or if they’re actually just not sure where to turn, or
they’re not comfortable approaching a service, like Counselling and Psychological Services -
we can help to provide that kind of initial contact
without actually having to formally approach a lot of the services which are available.
So we would help to put them in touch with the SRC -
they might have a question about their rights within their student residence.
So again, we can give some advice but put them in touch with services
who can broaden that information for them.
We have all different ages, life stages of students in the University,
and coming from all different backgrounds as well.
Whatever they would discuss with us is completely confidential.
We just want to provide that friendly face so students know that they can ask us anything.
And not just when they’re in dire straits either, maybe just because they’re wondering.
The Student Services Enquiry Team is available for in-person advice
Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm at Level 2 of the Fraser Building, directly opposite the Library.
Our main role is to meet students who have a disability and assess their study needs.
We have a wide range of students of all ages coming to see us. Part-time, full-time,
A wide range of disabilities: students with chronic medical conditions, epilepsy,
chronic fatigue syndrome; physical disabilities; specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia;
long-term mental health difficulties like depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar.
We look at all aspects of their course; where there are potential barriers for them.
Students can contact us on our main number, which is 0141 330 5497,
or come into our office at 65 Southpark Avenue, on campus, next to the Fraser Building.
If for disability-related reasons, students need to email, then they can contact us on:
Some common reasons for a student applying could be, their wage has been interrupted, or
they’ve lost their job, struggling with rent for that month,
childcare costs are higher than what they expected.
Perhaps for some first year students, budgeting is a new thing for them,
and too much partying and going out has left them short.
The Hardship Fund is for all students whether they’re Home, International or E.U.
Eligibility is: they’ve exhausted all other means that they can. It is really a last resort fund.
The main financial aid fund we operate is our Discretionary and Childcare Funds,
for UK students.
They would have to have taken out, if eligible, the maximum loan through SAAS funding.
Then from there, if they’re still facing financial hardship, we would see a shortfall in their
income versus expenditure over their academic session, and we would look to assist them.
The Crisis Loan Fund we is more of an emergency cash fund, for all students.
Really, if they have an unpaid bill or they need to return home quickly.
If students have questions about any of the funding, please come in and speak to us.
It’s confidential. It’s just a few members of staff, and more than likely we can help.
We are a friendly, approachable team. We have a drop-in session, from 10am-4pm, weekdays.
Call us, email, pop in - ask to speak to us at the Student Services desk.
There’s a lot of detail on the University web pages.
Type in ‘Financial Aid,’ and it’ll pull up the Registry site and all the funds we have available,
our eligibility guidelines, everything’s there. Even the application forms are there.
We’re based on Level 2 of the Fraser Building, in the Registry department.
My particular role within the SRC is to manage the Advice Centre, a free, confidential
independent advice service for all the University students and prospective students.
Some of the main things that we deal with in the Advice Centre are accommodation problems,
financial help, academic issues - an appeal, complaint, or even a student conduct issue.
Often, if a student is called to a meeting or a hearing, we can to accompany them, and
help them to state their case and make the best of their situation.
We are completely independent of the University are a confidential service.
So whatever problem you come to us with, we won't go back and tell your tutors.
We’re not going to share it around. Often students worry about coming to seek help, or
they’re not sure if they need help, or if they’ve actually got a problem in the first place.
We would always say, come and see us. Don’t bottle it up.
We’re all very friendly and approachable,
and we just like students to come in and contact us if they have any issues at all.
The Advice Centre is in the ground floor of the John Macintyre Building,
next to the Main Gate on campus.
Students can just drop in any time between 11:30am and 4.00pm, Monday to Friday.