Your first Weeks
During your first few weeks, you will meet your course teams and the other students on your course either in person, or on Aula, our online learning platform.
You will also have the opportunity to attend events and meet other students with similar interests. Our welcome event page outlines all the activities we have planned to help you settle into university life.
Alongside the main university induction that you started after enrolment or registration, you will also receive a course induction. There are a number of services and opportunities available to you right from day one. We’ve listed a few for you here, so you can get a feel for what your first few weeks will be like.
Please read our safety guides:
Academic support
Settling in is easier if you understand the university’s Academic and General Regulations and make the most of all the support available to you. There are a wide range of services designed to help you with your studies.
Lanchester Library
The Lanchester Library has a vast collection of resources available to you, most of which can be accessed online. This means that whatever time of day and wherever you are in the world, you will still be able to read and study. The Library building is open for you to use 24 hours, 7 days a week from the 6th September 2021. Make sure you bring your ID card with you for the turnstiles.
Every course area has a specialist librarian assigned to them, a liaison librarian. They will be able to provide you with support in researching and studying for your assignments, just book a one to one appointment with them. They also lead workshops on key academic skills, such as evaluating and referencing information. Our induction guide has more information about the range of services available to you.
Library staff are always happy to help. If you are in the library, please just ask us; or for online support, you can use the libchat function in Locate, or look at our Library essentials guide or our Pre-arrival library support (PALS) guide (developed especially for international students or those curious about how UK university libraries work).
Personal tutors
Every full-time undergraduate student has an Academic Personal Tutor (APT); an academic who can provide advice on academic and personal issues.
Academic writing support
The Centre for Academic Writing (CAW) is located next to the back entrance of the Lanchester Library. CAW’s friendly team of Academic Writing Tutors provides students with a range of academic writing support services including individualised academic writing tutorials, workshops on common academic writing development topics, and “Single Question Drop-in” sessions located in a variety of faculty locations during peak teaching weeks. CAW also provides academic writing resources, including Coventry Student Essentials, which allow you to work through key skills in your own time and at your own pace. Visit CAW’s Student Portal page for additional resources and follow us on Twitter for more information. To book an academic writing tutorial or an academic writing development workshop visit CAW’s online booking system.
Maths and Stats Support
sigma provides mathematics and statistics support to all students at all levels, both in person and online. No appointments are needed to access drop-in support for immediate help with small problems. You can get drop-in support in person in our centre on the ground floor of the Library (at the bottom of the main stairs) or online drop-in support by going to our website and clicking the button to “Access live online support”. You can also book an hour-long appointment (which can be online or in-person) with one of our friendly expert tutors. Bookings for individual appointments can be made through our booking page. We also run a series of workshops on topics of common interest – news of when these are happening can be found on our website, which also contains a wide array of resources which you may find useful for self-study.
Academic research
Our team of Academic Liaison Librarians offers one-to-one appointments to help with research and referencing. They also work with academic tutors to deliver information literacy skills into your course and offer Add+vantage modules, which can support your academic writing.
Student Reps
Every faculty and course has Student Reps - fellow students who represent the views of you and your course mates to your department and ensure your voice is heard. Find out more about what Reps do on the Students' Union website.
Health and wellbeing
We want you to get the most out of university life, but it isn’t always easy managing everything. Our Student Health and Wellbeing services aim to ensure that you have access to trained professionals with the right expertise. We have a huge range of support, services and activities to help maintain a healthy body and mind. These include:
- Sports and recreation facilities
- On-campus medical centre
- Welfare
- Disabilities
- Counselling
- Mental health
- Spirituality and faith
- The ResLife team in University halls accommodation
Your career
Career development starts long before graduation. There are a range of opportunities you can take advantage of from your first day, which will all help build important skills for your CV.
Our Talent Team provides extensive support throughout your time here and beyond. They offer advice and opportunities including faculty employability and placements teams. If you need advice, you can speak to the Talent Team.
Part-time work
Many of our students work part time alongside their studies. You could become a Student Ambassador and work part-time with the university’s faculties and schools at events such as open days, getting paid on a project-by-project basis as well as gaining experience for your CV. Look out for Student Ambassador recruitment notices around campus, within your school or faculty and on the Student Portal.
You can also visit thefutureworks, our recruitment and employment agency based in TheHub, which offers a variety of employment opportunities for current students and graduates, including flexible and part-time work.
Become a Course Rep
The Students’ Union Reps department covers three areas: Course Reps, Service Reps and Halls Reps. Reps are the loudest voice on campus and exist to make sure you are heard at all levels of the university. Any student can be a rep, there are a mix of paid and unpaid roles, and it provides great experience and personal development. You can apply now to get involved.
International experiences and opportunities
The Global Mobility team can help you gain international experience and develop the global competencies required for national and international careers. Find out all about:
- Organised international field trips
- Studying abroad in a range of European countries through the Erasmus or Turing scheme or see how you could go on an exchange outside Europe
- Collaborative Online Learning Projects (COIL) projects enabling virtual mobility
Need more help?
General support
- The Student Engagement Team is here for you 08:00- 20:00 Monday to Friday and 10:00-16:00 on Saturday and Sunday. You can call +44 (0) 2477 656565 or email engagement@coventry.ac.uk. We’re your first point of contact whatever your enquiry or question, and can either help you directly or connect you to expert support, whether that’s an academic tutor or one of the many dedicated student services. Our team is trained to listen and will treat your enquiry professionally and with discretion; your information is always kept within the confines of the university.
- Check Wayfinder to identify the support we can provide.
- Our International Student Support Team is here to help international and EU students and offer non-academic support on subjects such as pre-arrival, visas, immigration, housing and post-study advice. For questions, queries or concerns, contact the Student Support Team by email or telephone: +44 (0) 24 7765 2010.
- Students’ Union Advice Centre (SUAC) is a free, independent and confidential service which gives advice, and provides representation, on a wide range of problems including housing, consumer law, cheating and plagiarism, internal disciplinary matters and complaints. You can call +44 (0)24 7765 5200 or visit them online.
- In an emergency on campus or in Coventry University accommodation call the university’s Protection Service on +44 (0) 24 7765 5555. For off-campus emergencies or in private accommodation call the Police on 999. For non-emergency incidents (e.g. your car has been stolen or your property damaged) call the Police on 101.
Study and course support
- If you have questions about your study programme, you can talk to your course team - and other students on your course - by logging in to your course pages on Aula.
- If you need help understanding any of the university’s academic processes and regulations, your faculty registry team is on hand to help. This could be with absences, exams, deferrals, extensions and more.
