Now that the semester is in full swing and many of you are planning essays or preparing for exams, we want to highlight the services on offer to you that may help with this aspect of university life, and ensure that you perform to the best of your ability and can access any help you may need.
No matter how much you know, there will always be times when you need help, and our services are here for you.
“[My advice for students is] make use of as many services that QMUL offer as possible. All the departments that I’ve been in contact with have been excellent” – Max Marcheselli, Geography Student.
Below is a list of key services that may be of particular use to you during this busy time. Remember, if you need help or assistance with any matter, no matter how small, then be sure to get in touch at the earliest opportunity. A full A–Z list of services on offer to students and their contact details is also available.
QMUL’s Advice and Counselling Service provides many students with specialist, professional and confidential support on a wide range of welfare, financial, emotional and psychological issues.
Emotional wellbeing is crucial during essay and exam season, and is vital to successful study and performance. The Advice and Counselling Service can help you to invest time in learning how to look after your physical, emotional and mental health and provide a number of resources to do so. They offer face-to-face emotional support, workshops on dealing with specific issues, as well as more specialist advice around mental health and medical students, LGBTQ life, and domestic violence. They also provide more general guidance on coping with student life and study, such as the transition to university for first year students, and building emotional resilience during tough times.
Financial and welfare issues can also distract you from your studies and impact on your wellbeing, especially when deadlines and exams are coming up. The Advice and Counselling Service can help you find solutions to these problems through one to one welfare advice sessions. Online resources are also available including money advice and budget planning, additional sources of funding for undergraduates and postgraduates, as well as immigration and welfare support for international students. There are also a number of student advice guides available on a range of popular topics.
The Disability and Dyslexia Service offers support for all students with disabilities, specific learning difficulties and mental health issues. There are procedures and guidance in place to help you out when you need it, especially around stressful and difficult times such as coursework and exam periods.
To start, the service can provide assistance with finding out whether you have a specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia. They will then be able to provide tailored support to you such as applying for funding through the Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) and arranging DSA Needs Assessments. They can also ensure you have access to vital resources such as specialised loaned equipment, materials in an accessible format such as Braille, and assistance with applying for suitable accommodation.
They also provide support for your studies, including specialist one-to-one ‘study skills’ tuition, providing educational support workers such as note-takers and library assistants, as well as mentoring support for students with mental health issues and conditions on the autistic spectrum. They can also facilitate special arrangements and extenuating circumstances in examinations, and access guides for our campus buildings are also available.
You can download a number of forms for completing specific applications for allowances and funding on the DDS website.
Coursework and exam season can not only be stressful on your academic life, but can also have an impact on your personal and home life. Residential Support aims to provide support for the well-being of students living in halls, encouraging a spirit of community and cooperation that supports success in students’ personal and academic lives. If things are getting a little tense with your flatmates in halls around this time, the Residential Support team are on hand to help resolve issues that you aren’t able to resolve yourselves.
The team also provide guidance on the accommodation options available at QMUL as well as alternative options in the private sector. They can advise with issues around cleaning and maintenance, residential fee payments, and also provide important information such as the licence agreement, and insurance cover.
The Language Centre is an academic department within the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film. They offer a range of programmes in academic English and study skills, including a range of credit bearing and non-credit bearing modules for current students.
The in-sessional English modules can help you to maximise your performance at university and improve the quality of your academic assignments. They cover aspects such as writing for your discipline, English grammar, proofreading skills, presentation skills and lecture comprehension, as well as other speaking or literature content. If you are an international student, and English is not your first language, then these modules are suitable for you. Home students who have English as their first language also find they benefit from the academic skills that these modules develop.
You can also access courses in modern foreign languages, including Arabic, Japanese, French, German, and Spanish, as well as Chinese through QMUL’s Confucius Institute. The Multimedia Language Resource Centre is a modern, multi-media language learning facility, comprising three large and two small multimedia digital labs for language teaching and self-access language learning.
A number of online resources are also available on the Language Centre website, including interactive activities to develop and improve your academic English language skills, and videos to help international students familiarise themselves with academic culture in the UK.
Learning Development offers practical guidance in developing insights and practices that will contribute to your academic success and help you make the most of coursework and exams.
They offer writing and study guidance to help you become more effective in your academic work. They can help with aspects of study including reading effectively, writing, exam technique, revision, note-taking, time-management, critical thinking, avoiding plagiarism, presentation skills and group work. You can access this through one-to-one tutorials, drop-ins, reading workshops, small group tutorials, as well as by attending a writing retreat. Royal Literary Fund Fellows are also available to help you develop clear, lively, accurate writing that gets its meaning across with the minimum of fuss. They offer individual guidance on written assignments during term time, and you can book a free appointment for up to 50 minutes at any stage of an assignment, including after an assignment has been marked.
A range of self-access resources is available to access at a time that's convenient for you.
The Study Skills Collection at Mile End Library provides resources to help develop key skills, which will help you during coursework and exam time, as well as year-round. It contains books and other resources covering subjects such as general study skills, exam skills, public speaking and presentations, research and theses/dissertations, reading and writing skills, and English as a foreign language.
You will also find some subject-specific study skills books. All items in the Study Skills Collection are included in the Library catalogue.
Mile End Library is now open 24-7, so you can access the study space and make use of the collections at a time that suits your study schedule. Also available is a guide to finding your way around the libraries at QMUL for ease of access.
PASS is a course-based mentoring scheme, run for you by other students. If you are a first-year, you’ll have the opportunity to discuss study-related problems and get general advice from higher-year undergraduates in their subject. Each subject mentor has a very useful perspective to offer the mentees. PASS is a valuable and complementary addition to the wide range of more formal teaching and support offered to students. PASS activities include mentor training, group discussion, freshers' induction, revision sessions, the mentor certificate ceremony and conferences.
The academic advice service is an independent, free and confidential service open to all Queen Mary students. They can offer you confidential advice and representation on a range of academic issues including applications for extenuating circumstances, requests for a review of an exam board decision, allegations of plagiarism or an examination offence, and allegations of breach of the code of student discipline. They also offer representation during appeals against the outcome of a disciplinary hearing, either under the examination offences regulations or the code of student discipline, appeals against de-registration from a module or course, complaints regarding a member of staff or course delivery, bullying or harassment by a member of staff or fellow student, PhD supervision, and fitness to practice issues.
They can offer advice on statements and accompany students to hearings either to represent the student or to provide moral support. They also act as a referral point on matters such as immigration, finance or mental health.
Every School and Institute at Queen Mary has a dedicated student support contact who can offer advice on matters you feel may be impeding your ability to study. You will also have been allocated a personal tutor (sometimes called academic adviser or mentor), who is there to offer guidance and support during your studies.