Student support

The school provides a variety of support services to you as a student. These can be found below.

Coursework support sessions

Within the school there are a series of workshops ran in order to enable students to get assistance with their computing modules. These workshops, collectively known as homework club at Canterbury and the computing workshop at Medway are run by stage 2 & 3 students to support stage 1 & 2 students with their studies. It is done in this way because the students running the workshops are likely to have completed the modules being undertaken in the previous year so therefore have experience within these modules.

IT support

The school offers a wide range of IT support services, some of which are listed below. For a full list of these services please see the systems support page.

Accessing the Kent IRC

The Kent Internet Relay Chat is a messaging platform in place as a form of communication between students. The easiest way to use this is to use the web version (you will be prompted for your Kent login details). If you would like further instructions on set up and use through putty see setting up the Kent IRC (txt file).

Off site access

Certain parts of the School of Computing website are only available if you're connected to the university network (a local user). In some scenarios you may be prompted to provide your Kent login details, you will then be able to access the page. Local pages tend to contain information that doesn't necessarily relate to external visitors or is in some way confidential.

PASS

The Personal Academic Support System is in place to provide guidance and support to students during their period of study. This is achieved through individual schools and university wide services.

Personal Development Planning (PDP)

Personal Development Planning is a process in which you can record, review, reflect and plan your own learning. A PDP is helpful to pinpoint key strengths and weaknesses within your study.

Having a PDP is a student based activity supported by your school, in order to make recording and reflection of your learning easier the university has an e-portfolio called MyFolio which you can use in line with your PDP.

Disability support

Support is available for students who describe themselves as having a disability, for more information please see support available to disabled students. This outlines the school's procedures and practises in support of disabled students.

Intermissions and withdrawal

Intermission is when you take time away from your studies with the consent of the university, the university does not encourage prolonging your studies but sometimes an intermission is necessary. For further information on intermission, the procedure and the necessary paperwork please see the University's intermission procedures.

If, for some reason you wish to leave the university before the end of your course you can do this by filling out the withdrawal form. When thinking about withdrawal you should talk to your academic advisor to discuss the matter and if necessary, your head of school. Once more if you wish to withdraw you must follow the steps mentioned above and complete the withdrawal form (pdf).

Academic advisers

Academic advisers exist to support undergraduate students throughout their study, every undergraduate is assigned an academic adviser at the start of their studies. Every lecturer within the school has the capability to be an academic adviser, if you know your academic adviser you can use the people page to find useful information regarding your adviser such as contact details.

For more information on academic advisors please see information on academic advisers or click on the initials of your tutor on your SDS homepage.

Research supervisors

As a research student, instead of having an advisor you will have a supervisor. Supervisors work very much in the same way as academic advisers as they are there to support both your research and you yourself should you have any cause for concern.

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The university provides a great deal of support options, a list of which can be found below.

Academic support

UELT

The Unit for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching provides services for both students and staff in order to promote high standards of learning. One area of the UELT focused towards students more so is the Student Learning Advisory Service (SLAS) which aims to enhance the student learning experience.

VALUE

The VALUE programme is an initiative between multiple areas of the university and enables stage 1 students at both Medway and Canterbury to make the most of their education by helping to maximise their learning potential and therefore helping them to get better results. The programme is aimed at all students within participating school.

As a school we are not part of any other VALUE programme aspects, instead postgraduates needing support in this sense can view information on skills workshops.

Student support and wellbeing

The student support and wellbeing department has two main branches which it provides services for: student support and student wellbeing

Student support

The university has a dedicated team support team that can help you with many subjects, whether you have a disability or whether you would like some extra help. For more information please see the student support page.

Student wellbeing

The university has a dedicated wellbeing team to support students who are experiencing distress for any reason. The services they provide include counselling, mental health support, wellbeing events, self-help guides and others. For further information please see the student wellbeing page.

Student progress

The university will not discuss a students progress with any third party, including parents, unless the student has completed a permission form.

Administrative support

SDS

The University has an on-line Student Data System that you can access from the student guide. SDS gives access to the following:

• Your lecture and class timetable;
• Coursework Details: includes assessment deadlines, weightings and other related information;
• Your marks: you will be able to view your coursework marks as they are entered into the system throughout the year. Examination marks will be available at the end of the academic year once they have been confirmed by Boards of Examiners;
• The modules for which you are registered; The records of your attendance at compulsory classes; Your end of Stage result.
• Subscription to the University SMS text alert service (see below)

  The system also allows you to view and notify changes to your personal details as held by the University and has a number of facilities to enable you to register on-line:

• returning registration at the start of a new academic year;
• confirmation of examinations and assessment in the Spring Term;
• Optional modules registration
• Study skills workshop
• Congregations Ceremony

Confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS)

If you are a citizen of the European Economic Area (EEA) – the 27 EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway – or a Swiss national (all of whose citizens have the right of free movement and residence in the UK) you do not need to seek entry clearance before travelling to the UK to take a programme of study for more than six months.

If you are not a citizen of these countries, you need to have a Tier 4 Student Visa. The Admissions Office assists around 1,500 students every academic year to obtain their visa.

To apply for a Tier 4 Student Visa, you must have received a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) number from the Admissions Office. For further details please see the visa processing section (this can be found through the Enrollment Management service section).

Library support

The libraries at the university offer a range of support services including IT support and subject specific support. Please see the library services page for more information. back to top