Hey UAL students!

This your Arts SU Student Advice Team here, and today we're taking you on a behind-the-scenes peek at your Advice Service, and all the things we get up to besides providing individual student support!

Providing feedback on UAL policy changes

Each year, UAL reviews its academic policies to ensure that they are fit for purpose and align with best practice and sector standards. This process typically takes place during the summer. In the past few years, Arts SU Advice Team have become more involved during the consultation period of updating these policies. We've been working with UAL to feed in on key policies including Extenuating Circumstances (ECs) and attendance/engagement. We represent you at policy review meetings and submit written feedback to UAL, sharing our thoughts on proposed changes and advocate for improvements for you. We utilise knowledge accumulated from advising students to advocate for changes based on your experiences. It's our primary concern to ensure that UAL policies continue to benefit all UAL student experiences.

Research Project

We're also conducting an ongoing research project with the aim of improving the accessibility of our advice services for specific student demographics, broadening how you can access our services, and providing bespoke advice and resources. Currently, the groups that we are looking to do this for are Postgraduate Research Students (Masters & PhD), Further Education Students, International Students, and Disabled Students (inclusive of long term physical and mental health conditions, and Specific Learning Differences).

It's vital that we diversify our approach, information, and guidance to a wider range of students and make sure it takes into account the unique barriers and challenges you might be facing at UAL. We recently went along to student events like an FE social at Lime Grove, the International Student Employability event and have hosted focus sessions with students to speak about your experience of the Advice Service. Thank you so much for your anonymous feedback if you came along: it'll be shared with our SU and UAL colleagues, to develop the services and support on offer to you, hopefully making them more inclusive and accessible for all.

Housing Roadshow

Aside from advising on academic issues, we also advise students on all sorts of housing issues. We have recently attended the UAL Life After Halls Roadshow, where we met and talked with students across several UAL halls (Sketch House, The Costume Store & Glassyard Building). We were there to provide information on everything you need to know about housing, including resources for finding accommodation, tenant rights, council tax, deposits and more. Students had a chance to spoke with our advisors in person and learn about the service provision and receive some goodies too! We gave away washing up liquid, plant pots, soft drinks, sweets and more to students who came and chatted to us!

This is just a sneak peek of everything that happens behind the SU Advice Service. It's our top priority to support every student on their unique journey at UAL, as we continue to improve and broaden our services. If you would like to speak with an advisor about any academic or housing issue, you can book an appointment with us on the Arts SU website. Or send us an email.