Student Support Officer
CurrentAttached to an academic department, my role is to provide administrative and pastoral support to undergraduate and postgraduate taught students from their first days at the university to graduation.My strengths lie in fostering a supportive environment so students feel able to ask for help, starting with a talk in 'freshers week'.I work preventively by sending clear and informative weekly emails. These messages explain rules/mitigating circumstances applications, but also info on events, and how to contact relevant staff. I keep my tone warm and friendly, using plain English and colours.Poor attendance is often an indicator of something more serious. My approach is to reach out with a friendly email, offering a meeting. This usually results in three types of response: info is wrong/issue was minor; there is a problem and yes to a meeting; no response. If the latter, I ring students.I have a good record at finding alternatives to students withdrawing, as I can draw on my many years of working as a teacher and trainer to provide practical support (time management of assessment writing, for example).In addition to the pastoral support, my role requires a good knowledge of programmes.I do checks on modules for the sign-up process; do module changes manually as required by students.I work with registry on resubmission info.I do all the preparation for the programmes within the Department for the Examboard, including finding missing grades, working with programme conveners and liaising with external examiners; and all clerical checks.
