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Departmental Academic and Communication Skills (DACS)

As the DACS team, we offer skills development opportunities to students studying a range of courses within the Faculty of Social Sciences.

Throughout term time, we help you to develop your academic and communication skills. We work closely with departments to create skills development opportunities tailored to the specific challenges of your course. At every stage of your time at York, we support you to adapt to the demands of your modules and assessments.

Our services and resources are designed in collaboration with course and module tutors. We identify assessments that may pose additional challenges to students who need further communication skills development. We then tailor module materials and teaching to ensure you develop these key skills. These often take the form of weekly skills sessions built into your course's curriculum. You're also able to get personalised help through one-to-one sessions with a skills advisor. We're dedicated to ensuring you develop the skills you need for success in your learning and assessments.

The tailored nature of our service means that the DACS services on offer differ between modules, departments and study levels. Currently, DACS support is available in the following departments:

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School for Business and Society

Undergraduate courses

DACS services are also available on year in industry or year abroad variants of courses. For any queries about the DACS services available on undergraduate School of Business and Society courses, please contact sbs-admissions@york.ac.uk.

Postgraduate courses

For any queries about the DACS services available on postgraduate taught School of Business and Society courses, please contact sbs-admissions@york.ac.uk.

Department of Economics

Postgraduate courses

For any queries about the DACS services available on this course, please contact econ-pg-admissions@york.ac.uk.

Department of Education

Postgraduate taught courses

For any queries about the DACS services available on these courses, please contact education-masters-administrator@york.ac.uk.

Department of Politics and International Relations

Postgraduate Taught Courses

For any queries about the DACS services available on these courses, please contact poli-graduate-office@york.ac.uk.

Department of Sociology

Undergraduate courses

For any queries about the DACS services available on undergraduate sociology courses, please contact sociology-ug@york.ac.uk.

Postgraduate taught courses

For any queries about the DACS services available on undergraduate sociology courses, please contact sociology-pgt-admin@york.ac.uk.

DACS skills development may also be available to students studying courses not listed above, if the course offers modules taught in the departments listed.

The DACS Team

Our DACS team is a group of experienced skills tutors and advisors. We are qualified Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and experienced mentors of students who are transitioning into study in the UK and/or higher education more generally. Your DACS advisor is your learning mentor, personal tutor and supervisor. We offer personalised advice to help you overcome challenges and enhance your skills.

Our collaboration with academic colleagues, in-depth knowledge of course and module structure and assessment, and personal supervisory relationships with individual students means we've consistently delivered excellent support for students since our introduction to the faculty in 2021.

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