Your first weeks

1

Welcome weeks

We’ve timetabled lots of social events to help you meet other students. Our friendly and approachable staff will be on hand to answer your questions or queries. We have several customer experience desks set up around campus.

2

Your teaching and learning experience

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.

Every course area has a specialist librarian assigned to them. 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.

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 read one of our handy guides.

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 based in the Lanchester Library. CAW’s friendly team of Academic Writing Tutors provides students with a range of online writing support services including:

• individualised and small-group writing tutorials
• workshops on common writing topics
• 10-minute ‘Single Question Drop-ins'.

From mid-May, CAW will also offer a limited number of on-campus writing tutorials. 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. See CAW’s Student Portal page and follow us on Twitter for more information. To book a writing tutorial, workshop, or other CAW session, visit CAW’s online booking system.

Maths and Stats Support

sigma provides mathematics and statistics support to all student at all levels both in person and online. No appointments are needed to access our online drop-in centre for immediate help with small problems – just go to our website and click the button to “Access live online support”. If you prefer to speak to someone face to face, you can visit our Support Centre on the ground floor of the Library (at present, these visits must be pre-booked). You can also book an hour-long online appointment with one of our friendly expert tutors. Bookings for the face to face centre and individual appointments can be made through our booking page.

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.

3

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.

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.

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.

The Centre for Global Engagement (CGE) is a service which can help you gain international experience and develop the global competencies required for national and international careers. Find out all about:

• Global Languages (Linguae Mundi), a programme which offers over 30 short language courses, currently taught online, by approachable native speakers
• Organised international field trips
• Studying abroad in a range of European countries through the Erasmus scheme or see how you could go on an exchange outside Europe
• Collaborative Online Learning Projects (COIL) projects enabling virtual mobility