Personal Support and Welfare
Support and Guidance
The MSc is a demanding programme, which lasts a full calendar year. It tends to be a year of rapid personal growth as new skills and knowledge are gained and practised. Students take a large part of the responsibility for their own learning during the programme and are constantly working to tight deadlines. Meeting these challenges is, for the vast majority of students, part of the rich and enjoyable experience of studying at Master’s level. The provision of appropriate support and guidance is an essential component of that experience. There are several types of support built into the programme and available through the wider University. They fall roughly into 3 areas: personal, academic and career guidance.
The Programme Director has overall pastoral responsibility for the students on the MSc I will assign you to a personal academic tutor from within the Programme team. Your tutor and Programme Director will be supported in your pastoral care by the Director of Student Support for Psychology, Doctor Daniel Schoth and Director of Postgraduate Student Support for Psychology, Doctor Sarah Kirby (psy-support-pg@soton.ac.uk). Individual appointments may be made with your personal academic tutor in the first instance, either by email, or by direct approach.
The University also has a counselling service, student advice centre, chaplaincy and student health centre which also have counselling in clinical psychology services. For sources of support provided by the University, please see the Enabling Services website. The University has a number of self-help guides covering mental health and other issues. You can access these here: http:/selfhelpguides.ntw.nhs.uk/southampton/
If overseas students have particular issues, the Psychology International Student Mental, Doctor Denis Dreighe (D.Dreighe@soton.ac.uk) can be consulted for additional help and advice. The University also has overseas advisers and you are assured of our confidentiality in all levels of support. The Programme Director has a keen interest in the well-being of international students, being the Director of Internationalisation for Psychology.
For academic support the Programme Director will place you in Study Groups where you can discuss your ideas with peers and develop your work through discourse. Peer support is an important part of the programme and learning to use it effectively is an essential skill for working life. If you are struggling with your assignments and feel you are not getting the marks you deserve, feel free to contact the lecturer concerned and discuss your issues with your Personal Tutor.
Study Skills
The University is able to provide study skills resources that you might find helpful in a number of ways including to support your independent study, your coursework and your exam preparations. For more information see the Southampton Academic Skills Hub (http://library.soton.ac.uk/sash) and the English for Academic Purposes Toolkit:http://www.elanguages.ac.uk/eap_toolkit.php
Problems or complaints
We encourage students to voice any concerns with the Programme Director either directly or through the Student Representative (who your class will choose at the start of the programme). The Programme Director is approachable and take student feedback seriously.
A more formal complaint procedure is available to students if necessary. Please refer to the University of Southampton Calendar for details of the University’s regulations and complaint process and links to further sources of guidance:http://www.calendar.soton.ac.uk/sectionIV/student-complaints.html
English Language Support for Foreign Students
The University of Southampton runs an ‘English for Academic Purposes support programme ‘for international students who are already registered at the University. This programme is designed for those wanting to improve their English during their time in Southampton and the Programme Director requires all international students for whom English is not a first language to attend the programme. For more information please visit the EAP skill support programme: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/cls/english/support.html