Accessibility statement

Academic Supervision

Supervision UG and PG Diploma

The Department will allocate you a Supervisor who is there to offer you support and advice throughout your programme of study.

You should meet with your Supervisor regularly, and he/she will be able to advise on what to do if things go wrong and can refer you to the right people in the University for help.

Details of the role of the Supervisor and how to get the most out of supervision are located within your Student Handbook and the University student webpages.

Supervision Taught PG

You will be allocated a personal supervisor as part of your programme induction. You should ensure that you arrange to meet them in Week 1 of Semester 1.

You will meet your supervisor two times per semester, plus up to three times in the summer period, to discuss your academic progress and to check that all is well with you and your studies. This is an important point of academic contact for all students. Your personal supervisor will encourage you to develop your academic and personal skills and can also act as a referee for any job and academic applications you might make in the future. They can advise what to do if things go wrong and refer you to the right people in the University for help with more personal matters.

Meeting with your supervisor
It is primarily your responsibility to book and attend appointments with your supervisor, and it is better to arrange these in advance preferably by email. This is an important point of academic contact for all students. Meetings will take place online or face-to-face. If you are unable to attend a supervisory meeting you should make reasonable attempts to contact your supervisor and to re-arrange the meeting. However, if you persistently fail to make contact with your supervisor and/or you fail to attend scheduled supervisory meetings then this will be reported to your programme leader and Chair of the Postgraduate Teaching Committee.
Records of your meeting will be kept between you and your supervisor – these may be accessed by other staff if necessary, for example, for continuity purposes if you change supervisor. You can access notes from supervision meetings via your e:Vision record. As a postgraduate student we would encourage you to make notes from the meeting and put these on e:Vision with a plan of agreed actions.
Personal supervisors can also help you with choosing your Module options. These need to be submitted by the end of Week 8  of Semester 1. An important aspect of your programme is your dissertation and we recommend that you start thinking about this early on in your programme and discuss this with your supervisor. The dissertation module lead will be in touch with dates to introduce the module in Semester 1.

Although supervisory meetings usually happen face to face it is possible for them to take place remotely via telephone or video-conference (e.g. Zoom, Google Hangouts, …..).

Dissertation supervision
Once your selected dissertation topic is approved,  you will be typically assigned two dissertation supervisors; this is in addition to your personal supervisor. In some cases, your personal supervisor might also be one of the dissertation supervisors.  It is your responsibility to ensure that records of your dissertation supervision meetings are promptly completed and confirmed by your dissertation supervisor(s) in your e:Vision record. When you wish to request that your dissertation supervisor provides feedback on your dissertation please ensure you give them adequate notice to do so and negotiate this date with them. Generally your dissertation supervisor(s) will acknowledge receipt of draft work by email, indicating when they will be able to provide comments.

Information relating to the frequency of supervision meetings and timelines for providing feedback can be found on the Information for Dissertations VLE site.

Procedure for changing your supervisor
Occasionally, the supportive relationship that we hope will develop between you and your supervisors fails. You are encouraged to discuss any difficulties with your supervisor to try to resolve these. However, if you find that you cannot communicate well with your supervisor, for whatever reason, then talk to your Programme Leader, or the Chair of the Postgraduate Teaching Committee, or if you prefer, contact one of the other support services staff.
Further details of supervision arrangements for your programme can be found in your Student Handbook. Please make sure to consult your cohort's handbook.

Supervision Research PG

Your Supervisor is there to provide confidential advice and guidance on academic issues, offer pastoral support on personal issues, discuss academic progress and performance, and assist with career and personal development plans.  In summary he/she is there to guide you through your research programme, and it is therefore important that you maintain contact with your Supervisor, and keep him/her informed of any circumstances which may impact on your academic performance. 

Specific responsibilities for PhD supervision are set out in the Notes for Guidance for Students, Supervisors and Examiners provided by the Registry.

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