Personal academic and pastoral support is central to providing students with a transformational learning experience. The University of Bedfordshire personal academic tutoring approach aims to enhance student success through a proactive, structured and sustained engagement with our academic staff. Personal Academic Tutor time is focused on developing a valuable professional relationship with students.

We recognise that our students may need support in managing their student experience effectively, and whose requirements for support vary significantly. The role of the Personal Academic Tutor is in addition to the support provided by academic staff at unit and course level and from the personal support provided to students by specialists within the central student support services. Where required, Personal Academic Tutors will also provide guidance around accessing specialist support from university professional service teams.

Personal Academic Tutoring Policy

The University Personal Academic Tutor Policy details associated expectations and processes (such as meeting frequency, allocation of students to tutors). The policy and associated forms are available via the Academy's document library

Student facing information on Personal Academic Tutoring can be found at Student Experience - Personal Academic Tutoring

Training

The Academy works in partnership with the Associate Deans for Student Experience to provide training for Personal Academic Tutors. This is delivered within faculties. 

The Personal Academic Tutor Handbook is available via the Academy's document library

Further information

Contact the Professional and Academic Development team via pad@beds.ac.uk 

Embedding Academic Skills

The Academy's Professional and Academic Development (also known as PAD) team provide targeted academic skills initiatives to promote student success (including delivering academic skills workshops, drop-ins and creating learning materials). The team will also work with course teams to support curriculum development in terms of mapping and embedding of academic skills learning opportunities. Each faculty has a dedicated PAD Faculty Partner who academic staff can contact to discuss how we can work in partnership to support students.

StudyHub@Library

PAD co-deliver the Study Hub service delivered out of the University libraries. Study Hub acts as a one-stop shop for students in relation to support with writing, maths, study skills, researching and IT. This includes a repository of accessible open access learning materials and drop ins at the Luton and Bedford campuses. Student can also request a 1:1 appointment either online or face-to-face by emailing studyhub@beds.ac.uk

The Student Experience Leaders scheme is delivered by the Academy for Learning and Teaching Excellence in partnership with the Students’ Union and key colleagues from across the University. Student Experience Leaders work in partnership with faculties and professional directorates to champion the student voice and implement curricular and co-/extra-curricular projects, which will facilitate the enhancement of student success and satisfaction.

The scheme serves to:

• Improve student engagement with the University and their course.
• Facilitate meaningful collaborations between students and staff to enable students to support staff to improve overall student satisfaction through school representation and specified project work.
• Facilitate meaningful collaborations between students and staff to enable students to support staff to enhance progress outcomes for targeted groups.
• Enhance student employability through participation in challenging real-world projects.

Championing student voice

Student Experience Leaders are a key contact for student Course Representatives along with other Students’ Union representatives. They collate feedback from representatives, identify trends and share this at faculty/department meetings. Student Experience Leaders then provide updates to representatives about feedback outcomes and developments.

Project work

Student Experience Leaders also work in partnership with academic staff to co-deliver projects that focus on enhancing student engagement and success and/or student satisfaction. In academic year 22/23 Student Experience Leader projects will be delivered in:

• Faculty of Creative, Arts Technology and Science
• Faculty of Education, English and Sport
• Faculty of Health and Social Science
• University of Bedfordshire Business School
• Library, Learning Resources and Information
• Academy for Learning and Teaching Excellence

Further information

Information related to Student Experience Leaders via academy@beds.ac.uk

The University of Bedfordshire undertakes a number of national and internal surveys related to teaching and learning where we can compare results with other institutions, so that we can identify strengths and areas for improvement.

Bedfordshire Unit Survey

The Academy manages the Bedfordshire Unit Surveys (BUS) which provides an opportunity for students to comment on their learning experiences. The BUS asks students to give feedback on teaching, content, support and resources related to each unit studied. This feedback is then used to enhance students’ educational experience.

BUS support is available via: surveys@beds.ac.uk

Please note: The BUS is currently being reviewed and a new version will be launched in AY22/23.

It is expected that all University of Bedfordshire students will demonstrate academic integrity. This means that students should be honest within their work, ensuring it is their own, and that sources used are acknowledged.

A breach of academic integrity is where the submitted work does not follow the University regulations, either unintentionally through negligence, or intentionally using unfair means to pass an assessment. Where submitted work contains a breach of academic integrity, this will be considered as academic misconduct. Examples of academic offences include work produced by a third party, impersonation, fabrication, cheating in an exam, collusion and plagiarism. Work submitted containing any of these may be sent to an Academic Conduct Panel for consideration

Academic Integrity Policy

The University’s Academic Integrity Policy details processes for reporting (and responses to) academic concerns and academic offences. The policy and associated forms are available via the Academy's document library.

Academic Conduct Panels

The Academy is responsible for arranging the University’s Academic Conduct Panels (ACP). An ACP is an impartial panel consisting of 2 or 3 academic staff who review case information relating to an allegation of academic offence. Panels are held at least once per month at scheduled dates to consider cases that have arisen. The panel will review all available information to decide whether there is an offence, and to apply a penalty where an offence is confirmed.

Further information

Information related to the Academic Integrity Policy and Academic Conduct Panels via acp@beds.ac.uk