ECA Student Support – Handbook for the MSc Sound Design 2022-23

A network of student support is in place to help you with any issues you may encounter during your studies.

Personal Tutors

Each student within ECA is allocated a Personal Tutor whose role is to offer guidance and encourage reflection on academic matters. The Personal Tutor will be a link between you and the wider academic community of the University. The Personal Tutor is not the same as a subject tutor: rather than dealing with the specifics of your studies in a particular course or programme, your Personal Tutor’s role is to provide you with advice about academic matters, to ensure that illness or personal difficulties are dealt with appropriately and to help you review and reflect on your progress and develop the skills to allow you to do this. There is also a responsibility on you to attend and engage with this process, so it is important that you are familiar with the system and how to access it.

For more information:

www.ed.ac.uk/students/academic-life/personal-tutor

If you don’t know who your Personal Tutor is you can find this information on MyEd. You will meet with them a number of times throughout your studies

Sign-up arrangements for meetings will be sent to you by your Personal Tutor and attendance is compulsory. If for good reason you are unable to attend, please let your Personal Tutor know as soon as possible. If you are away from campus (e.g. studying abroad) you can still access support and guidance from your Personal Tutor; typically this will be via telephone, Skype and, in some circumstances, email. You are welcome to request extra meetings with your Personal Tutor as necessary, by email.

Student Support Officers

ECA has four specialist Student Support Officers (SSOs) who work alongside academic and administrative colleagues. The SSOs support all ECA undergraduate and postgraduate students and can undertake a number of tasks for you including:

Advice about transferring to a new degree programme
Advice about requesting an Authorised Interruption of Study, or AIS (the total duration of which depends upon your programme of study)
Policies on withdrawing permanently from your degree programme
How to apply for Special Circumstances (where your performance in assessment has been disrupted) and guidance on criteria for Special Circumstances
Further information about other support services available and how to access them e.g. Student Counselling, EUSA Advice Place, etc.
Being a general contact point for all ECA undergraduate and postgraduate students – if you don’t know who to ask, the SSOs will be able to point you in the right direction.

Please note that SSOs do not provide detailed programme support, so if you have specific questions about your programme, e.g. hand in dates or a question about assessment, then you will need to speak to an appropriate member of staff in your Subject Area such as a Course and Programme Administrator, or your Personal Tutor.

The main ECA Student Support Office is located in the Hunter Building at Lauriston place, Room O.30 (next to the ECAfe). It is open at the following times:

Monday 11am – 5pm;
Tuesday to Friday, 9am – 5pm.

The Student Support Team also offer outreach days and can be found in the Student Administration and Support Service Office in the following locations:

Location	Day	Time
Minto House	Tuesday and Thursday	9am – 5pm
Alison House	Wednesday	9am – 5pm
Evolution House	Friday	9am – 5pm

You can either pop in and see the SSOs or make an appointment.

The SSOs can be contacted by emailing: eca-sso@ed.ac.uk

Special Circumstances

The Special Circumstances Committee (SSC) meets before the Board of Examiners to consider the cases of students whose performance has been affected Special Circumstances, and makes recommendations on mitigation actions that might be made at the exam board.

Special circumstances are circumstances which are exceptional for the individual student, are beyond that student’s control, and for which there is sufficient evidence to show that they had a significant adverse impact on the student’s performance in an assessment, or resulted in non-attendance or a non-submission for a scheduled assessment.

The Special Circumstances Committee deals with issues in the strictest confidence, but it can only deal with problems it knows about, so it is very important that if the need arises, you make sure that your Personal Tutor is aware of any problems. If appropriate you will be advised to complete a Special Circumstances application which will be presented to the Special Circumstances Committee. The ECA Student Support Officers can also give you advice and support to help you complete your Special Circumstances application. The deadline for applications is 7 days after your final assessment/exam in the corresponding exam diet.

Examples of circumstances that a Special Circumstances Committee is likely to accept:

Significant short-term physical illness or injury;
Significant short-term mental ill-health or similar illness;
Bereavement or serious illness of a person with whom the student has a close; relationship
A long-term relationship breakdown, such as a marriage.

Examples of circumstances that are unlikely to be accepted include:

Pressure of academic work;
Employment commitments or financial issues;
A short-term, self-certificated illness, such as a common cold;
Occasional low mood, stress, or anxiety.

Marks/grades cannot be adjusted by either a Special Circumstances Committee or a Board of Examiners as a consequence of Special Circumstances. In many cases, if you fail a course and your SC application is upheld, you will typically be allowed to resubmit as if it was the first/original attempt, or you may have late penalties partially or fully waived.

For further information, including the Special Circumstances form, see:

www.ed.ac.uk/academic-services/students/assessment/special-circumstances/procedure

You can also email the Student Support Office for the application form:

eca-sso@ed.ac.uk

If you feel your studies have been disrupted as a result of Special Circumstances, please contact your Personal Tutor as soon as possible. It is essential that you make an application in good time, prior to the Board of Examiners.

Your Personal Tutor will provide support and guidance in making an application for Special Circumstances. The final decision on your application is made by a School Special Circumstances Committee which meets prior to the Board of Examiners. This decision will be communicated to you by the Student Support Office following the publication of results.

Authorised Interruption of Studies (AIS)

An ‘Authorised Interruption of Studies’ (AIS) is required if you are going to be absent for more than two weeks. Students seeking an authorised interruption must have their Student Support Officer submit the request for authorised interruption of study form.

You should contact the Student Support Office as early as possible to discuss whether to apply or to proceed with an application. It is really important that you do not simply stop engaging with your studies – please seek advice first.

Authorised Interruption of Studies request form

The form, together with appropriate evidence, will be sent to the ECA Senior Tutor for consideration. Any such request must have the support of the student’s Personal Tutor.

Leave of Absence (LoA)

As a postgraduate student you may apply for a Leave of Absence (LoA) to move away from your normal (semester time) residence to continue your studies for temporary periods at a more remote location.

An appropriate application procedure must be followed to allow this – you should not simply leave. This is of particular importance to those students who are in the UK on a Tier 4 visa.

Authorisation may be given by Colleges and Schools provided that such a temporary move does not conflict with any other requirement of your programme of study, including any obligations to be physically available for on-campus activity. Please note that you have a right to request a LoA, but there is no automatic entitlement to being granted one. In some circumstances an Authorised Interruption of Studies may be a more appropriate option.

If you wish to request a LoA, you should discuss the matter with your Personal Tutor or supervisor, and contact the Student Support office. The SSOs will advise on whether a LoA or an AIS is most appropriate for the time period requested.

Withdrawal

If you are considering withdrawing from your programme you should contact your Personal Tutor in the first instance. If they are not available, please contact one of the ECA Student Support Officers. Please note that withdrawing from your studies will have implications for your fee liability, loans, student finance and, for international students, your visa.

Degree Programme Transfers

If you are considering making a request to transfer to a different degree programme, you are advised to contact your Personal Tutor or Student Support Officer as soon as possible to discuss your plans. They will give you advice on what may or may not be possible, as well as informing you of any formal requirements.

Transfers within ECA and to programmes elsewhere in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Science (CAHSS) are often possible, but a number of factors will be taken into account, including your academic profile to date, space on the destination programme, and other relevant factors.

Transfers which extend your total period of study have to be approved by CAHSS and so a formal application is required. For more information, see:

www.ed.ac.uk/arts-humanities-soc-sci/taught-students/changing-your-programme

Transfer requests may be subject to strict deadlines and should therefore be made as early as possible.

Peer Support

Peer Support in the context of the University means a student with more experience sharing their knowledge, skills, abilities and expertise with a new or less experienced student. Peer Support may focus around advancing your academic work, providing opportunities to socialise with other students within your School, or offering additional support to ensure your wellbeing while at University.

Edinburgh University Students’ Association (EUSA) and the University have been widely developing the Peer Support Project across the University since 2012.

Student Representation

Staff members at the University of Edinburgh work closely with student representatives.

Edinburgh University Students’ Association (EUSA) coordinates student representation and provides training and support for student representatives across the University. Student representatives (‘Reps’) listen to you to identify areas for improvement, suggest solutions, and ensure that your views inform strategic decisions within the University, building a stronger academic community and improving your student life. Schools share students’ emails with their student representatives as a matter of course; any student wishing to opt out from this should tell the School’s Teaching Office/Graduate School or equivalent.

Student Feedback

Edinburgh College of Art offer the opportunity for Student Feedback in a variety of ways. On some postgraduate programmes (and/or groups of postgraduate programmes) this takes the form of a Student Staff Liaison Committee (SSLC) that is held once per semester and that is Chaired and attended by members of academic staff. Some programmes also have meetings throughout the year giving the opportunity for students to feedback to academic staff at regular intervals. All student feedback is taken seriously at Edinburgh College of Art, and the opportunity is provided for you as a postgraduate student to raise any issues, of concern or praise, via the mid-course feedback mechanisms and Course Evaluation Questionnaires. Course Evaluation Questionnaires are opened at the end of all courses, and provide the opportunity for you to submit anonymous feedback on your courses.

Programmes (or programme groupings) that have a Student Staff Liaison Committee should nominate their own student representative to speak at the SSLC meetings. Reps should be chosen at the beginning of the academic year (usually in the first week of Semester 1). If you are interested in being a student representative for your programme, please contact your Programme Administrator.

The student rep is responsible for letting the wider student body know when meetings will be held, and should invite students to tell her/him of any ideas or problems. Students should also feel free to approach the nominated student representative at any time with particular issues. Additionally, you are invited to give full and free comments and opinions on all aspects of your programme, to the Programme Director, to other members of staff, or to the ECA Director of Learning and Teaching (PG) at any time. Further details on student representation can be found at: