Wellbeing and support

Support during your studies

Your wellbeing and happiness are important to us, so we provide a range of services and support via an assigned tutor (if you are studying on a taught programme) or the Director of Studies or an academic tutor (if you are a  research student).

Student Services

Student Services provides comprehensive information, advice and guidance to all students in all areas of student life, including:

• Advice on funding, fees, payments and financial difficulties
• Enrolment, records and confirmations of student status
• Health and Wellbeing
• Chaplaincy
• Residential support
• Visa and international queries
• Disability and learning support

The University’s Student Services Centre is a key point of contact throughout your time with us. The Centre can provide answers to a wide variety of questions and helps past and present and future students to find their way to the appropriate specialists.

Our friendly staff are trained to deal with a wide range of enquiries and the Centre is a key point for general information on many University services.

Contact the Student Services Centre:
ask@surrey.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)1483 685 878

Religious and spiritual support

We are a vibrant multi-faith and multicultural academic community. People of every kind of spirituality – along with those who do not consider themselves religious or spiritual – are respected. We have a network of chaplains drawn from a range of spiritual traditions and religious communities, with facilities on campus for individual or group worship,
quiet contemplation and prayer.

Childcare provision

Juggling your workload and family commitments can often be a difficult task. Here at Surrey, we aim to take some of the pressure off by providing an on-site nursery. Campus Kids is our day nursery for preschool-age children of students and staff. It is run in partnership with KidsUnlimited, a national childcare provider with a great reputation. Students with young children should contact Campus Kids directly regarding the availability of places.

Residential mentors

Court Life Mentoring is a remarkable service for all students living in our Courts of Residence.

Each Court of Residence has its own dedicated team of mentors. These are students whose provide assistance for all residents. They provide special support for situations that can sometimes arise in communal residences. Their aim is to help their fellow students find solutions to problems before they become unmanageable.

Mentors visit each house/flat on a weekly basis. As they are often students who have been here for a few years, they already have a great deal of first-hand experience, so just ask a question and they will do their best to answer it.

Your mentor will also organise social events that help you get to know other Court residents. This increases the University’s excellent sense of community and helps to make your time living in Courts of Residence as enjoyable as possible.

96 per cent of our domestic students and 97 per cent of our international students say that they appreciate the Court Life Mentoring programme, according to the 2011 autumn i-graduate survey.

Support for disabled or dyslexic students

We provide a number of support services for our growing population of students with additional needs, including examination adjustments, dyslexia screening and referral, one-to-one learning support and help with applying for the Disabled Students’ Allowance. Our services are co-ordinated by Additional Learning Support, and our staff are happy to discuss any requirements you may have.

Students’ Union

Union support

Based in the Students’ Union, Union Support provides a completely independent and confidential support service to all Surrey students. The service is overseen by the Vice-President Education and the Vice-President Welfare (both elected student officers), as well as full-time staff.

It is Union Support’s responsibility to represent you, both in times of need and in your personal and academic development. They will work closely with you to swiftly resolve any problems that may arise, whether academic, practical or emotional.

Student Academic Representatives act as your voice within your particular study area. These representatives take comments from students and progressively feed this information upwards so that important issues are raised with the University. They are an invaluable part of the academic representation system and act as your voice to the rest of the University.

Training

The Students’ Union runs training sessions and workshops for professional, social and employability skills, many of which are led by students. There is also the opportunity to become a trainer, teach your peers about valuable ideas and share good practices with one another.