Personal Support and Guidance

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 three areas: personal, academic and career guidance.

The Programme Director has overall pastoral responsibility for the students on the MSc and 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, Dr Daniel Schoth, and Director of Postgraduate Student Support for Psychology, Dr 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 has counselling and 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 Mentor, Dr Denis Drieghe (D.Drieghe@soton.ac.uk), can be consulted for additional help and advice. The University also has overseas advisors, and you are assured our confidentiality in all levels of support.

For academic support, we suggest you form small 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 the assignments, and feel you are not getting the marks you deserve, feel free to get in contact with the lecturer concerned.

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 takes 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 of Southampton. This programme is designed for those wanting to improve their English during their time in Southampton.

For more information please visit the EAP skills support programme website.