Dear 25/26 UAL applicants,

Huge congratulations on receiving your UAL offer! We are very excited to welcome you officially to UAL. In the meantime, the SU Advice Team has put together some useful information for a smooth start to your courses.

Arts SU Advice Support is Available!

Firstly, to introduce ourselves, we are the Arts SU Advice Service. We are a free, impartial, confidential service that exists to support you. We can help you one on one, to navigate UAL academic and accommodation processes during your time studying. These processes include but are not limited to:

• Extenuating circumstances
• Academic appeals
• Complaints
• Searching for accommodation
• Contract checking

If in doubt as to whether we can help you, get in touch, if we aren’t the right team to support you with your issue, we will do our best to signpost you to the most relevant people to help.

You can virtually meet the team and find our contact details at the bottom of our webpage here.

SU Clubs & Societies

There’s an exciting range of clubs and societies that you can join as a UAL student and it’s a great opportunity to join the UAL student community and meet new people who share your interest, sport, culture, or religion! You can find the complete list on the SU website here. We’re sure we’ve got something for everyone.

Events

Lots of things are happening at the Arts SU, so have a look at all the current and upcoming events so you don’t miss out! We have many fun events planned for the year ahead.

More about UAL

UAL is quite a big university, across many campuses all over the city, it can feel confusing to find your way around. So, let’s start with the basics:

Campus locations: As a UAL student, you will be able to access all campuses with your Student ID card. Opening times and contact details for each campus can be found here. You might need these if you want to plan a journey to visit a different campus.

Library: UAL has some magnificent libraries with great workspaces, catalogues and archives and plenty of books. You can find out about your campus library and how to access the resources available here.

Printing: As a UAL student, you may find that you need to print off bits of work or research. Libraries have printing and photocopying facilities. The costs of these as well as how to top up your account to pay for printing, can be found here.

Academic support: Beyond your lectures and seminars taking place on your course, Academic Support is available to all students. They can offer in person or online support with a range of topics like research and best practice for academic writing. Access the support through Academic Support Online. 

Student Services: UAL Student Services offer a wealth of advice and support to students from funding, immigration and visas to health and mental health advice, disability, and dyslexia support. Refer to their webpage to find out how to get in touch with any of these services.

Careers & Employment: UAL and the Arts SU have a wealth of resources to support our students in academic, employment and wellbeing. Check out the SU page here for a list of wellbeing, technical creative and business skills. And find out more on Careers and Employment support from UAL here.

Officers: Get familiar with who your college’s Sabbatical Officer is, meet them all virtually here. These are elected individuals who work with the university and union to effect change for students. If you have an idea for a campaign or a concern at your college, you can click on the relevant officer and the mailbox icon to get in touch with them.

Course Reps: Course Reps are student volunteers who work with staff and students to improve the academic experience of everyone studying on their course.

They represent the views of their fellow students on everything from teaching quality and curriculum content to facility access and a sense of community.

In your course induction, your tutors will share how to become a Course Rep. If your course leader or tutor hasn’t shared information on becoming a Course Rep within the first two weeks of your course, reach out to them or contact the Representation & Democracy Team at coursereps@su.arts.ac.uk.  

Canteens/cafes at campuses: Just in case if you’re wondering where to get a good lunch or snack, check out the list of all canteens and cafes across UAL here.

Welcome Fair 2025 is on Saturday 27th September, 10am-4pm (quiet hour: 10am-11am), at Central Saint Martins (N1C 4AA)! It will be a great chance to meet your UAL community in person. We look forward to seeing you then!