Introduction
Students choose to study at Middlesex because they are attracted to the programmes that we offer and wish to take advantage of our excellent teaching and learning. With the establishment of the Personal Tutor Scheme there is now a further layer of holistic academic support across the University aligned to each student’s programmes of study, focusing on encouraging academic performance and intervening when there are concerns about a student’s progress or engagement.
In the course of their studies, our students may face various challenges, both personal and academic. Within the University there is a range of specialist professional advice services that complement the support provided in the Faculties and can help students to remain on their programme and achieve their potential. Student Support and Wellbeing, as part of Library and Student Support (LSS), includes accredited practitioner teams offering advice on matters such as disability & dyslexia support, counselling & mental health, and finance & welfare. These services work closely with other teams in LSS such as UniHelp, Learning Enhancement (LET) and Progression & Support Team (PST) and in turn will liaise with other professional staff across the University.
Issues will arise that may be immediate matters of concern, or require advice and intervention from qualified professionals or specialists in aspects of University procedures, or may simply be queries that only arise occasionally. This guide is here to help staff - not only personal tutors, but any member of academic or professional or Students’ Union staff – to know how to quickly and confidently direct students to the advice and support they need, when they need it.
We hope that you find this guide useful and welcome any feedback on the coverage or contents.
How to use this guide
It is worth taking some time to familiarise yourself with When to Refer, and then keep the document close at hand for those times when you need to refer back to it. When the guidance refers to a ‘student’, this refers equally to undergraduate, postgraduate taught and postgraduate research students.
This guide is also available online at http://www.intra.mdx.ac.uk/key-information/supporting-our-students
The ‘When to Refer’ guide covers a range of the support services offered and focuses particularly on those enquiries most commonly raised by students. Each page follows a standard format:
What should you be aware of? – outlines some of the key signs, cues and behaviours to look out for to help you identify a student who may need additional support.
What should you do? - provides practical guidance on action you need to take.
What happens next? – gives information about what is likely to happen after you take this action and will help you to guide students’ expectations.
How Student Support and Wellbeing Services fit with the support offered by other parts of the University
Some of the kinds of specialist support described in this guide are fairly self-contained in nature. For example, advice on visa and immigration issues, mental health assessments or counselling should only be offered to students by our teams in Student Support and Wellbeing. This guide may help clarify the boundaries of your own role in supporting students and help you to avoid straying into offering types of advice which should be coming from the University’s specialist, accredited practitioners.
In other cases, alongside the specialist support they are accessing from us, students may require academic support, learning and teaching adjustments, and general pastoral support from you and your teams. For example, most disabled students, in addition to the advice, funding and support we provide through the Disability and Dyslexia Service, will also require Faculty learning and teaching adjustments and modified arrangements from other services. In cases like this, remember that we are also here to provide you with advice on what you can or should do.
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Developing Students’ Autonomy
It is important to bear in mind that our students are adults, so apart from very urgent or extreme circumstances (i.e. where there is immediate risk to the health or wellbeing of the student or others) you will need their consent to make a direct or mediated referral to any support service.
In most cases you should guide and direct the student to the appropriate support service(s). Remember too that you can always contact any of our support services to ask for guidance about a student and how to manage their concerns, using a scenario, ‘what if...’ approach if more appropriate at that point.
Remember: if you are in any doubt when faced with a student concern, contact the relevant support service.
Please note: contact numbers provided use internal University extension numbers. Should you need to call from off-campus, please use 020 8411 in place of the numeral 1 at the beginning of the extension number. (e.g. for Ext 12345 you need to dial 020 8411 2345)
This guide was developed by UniHelp Desk Advisors in conjunction with professional service teams. We welcome your feedback about When to Refer and will be reviewing this guide so it becomes your indispensable reference point for all the information you need about Student Support and Wellbeing services. Please use the feedback sheet at the end of this guide to pass on your comments.
Special thanks goes to Anab Hussen, Barbara Lowi, Carol Ferguson, Daniel Jurkowski, Jacob Hawley, Maryam Ali, Dhana Letchmanan, Mark Shilingis and the LSS Communications Team.