Projects delivered in 2011/12, by Faculty
Faculty of Business, Law and Art- Management
Jean Leah and Mary Morrison
Postgraduate Taught (PGT) Peer Advisors x3, recruited from the previous cohort of students. These three Peer Advisors helped new students to settle into life in the School, providing welcome sessions, social events, trips, clinics, and answering queries by email and by Facebook. The scheme is now fully embedded and has been running in three consecutive years. The Peer Advisors continue to work closely with their colleagues within Engineering & the Environment, and organise joint events for the cohorts.
Faculty of Engineering and the Environment - Faculty-wide
Joy Moloney
Postgraduate Taught (PGT) Peer Advisor
The faculty decided to employ one Peer Advisor for 5 weeks, recruited from the previous cohort, to help new PGT students settle into the course. The Peer Advisor has developed a blackboard page with useful resources for the new cohort, which can be easily adapted to future cohorts. He organised coffee meetings, academic skills sessions, a social trip, and provided a useful link between the faculty, students, and SUSU.
Faculty of Health Sciences & Faculty of Medicine
Pauline Morgan, Marcus Parry
Pre arrival websites
University students often suggest that they would have liked more information about their programme of study pre-arrival. Reading lists and example timetables are just two examples of the kind of information that they believe they should be entitled to know about from the point of confirmation, so that they can be as prepared as possible (should they choose to be) for the learning ahead of them. As a University it is in our interests for new students to feel well prepared, well informed and excited about the experience that awaits them. Students are much more likely to have an easy transition to study if they are well informed of what to expect from their programme of study.
This project developed webpages specifically for offer holders. The webpages include:
- How to get ahead before you arrive
- Timeline of what information they can expect to receive and when they will get it
- Recommended reading, by programme
- Clinical Skills demonstrations
- Course taster video streams
- A ‘day in the life' of a current student
- FAQs, specific to programmes
- Navigating your way around and between campuses
- What will be expected of me?
The aim of this resource will be to motivate and better prepare students for life in the faculties. It is also hoped that it will help to relieve any pre-arrival anxieties or any shock that some students experience when starting their course at university.
Faculty of Humanities - eLanguages
Julie Watson and Andrew Davey
Get Ready for Southampton
An exclusive online course for all international students that do not have any language conditions on their offer. Information for students includes:
- learn about Southampton, the city where you are coming to live
- find out about everyday life at the University
- find out about the academic culture of a British university and what to expect when you begin your studies
- study online when you want and as much as you want
The url has been provided to all 2,500 international students that have received offers to study at Southampton. If you would like to access the site contact sed2@soton.ac.uk.
