Student Handbook

What the handbook is

The student handbook is the reference you keep for the whole of your degree. It answers the ordinary questions of student life — how to register, how marks are calculated, what happens if you miss classes, which office issues which document — in one place and in writing.

Read it once in your first week, then keep it. Most of it will only matter on the day you need it.

Starting out

The opening sections deal with everything that has to happen before study properly begins.

• Registration, and re-registration at the start of each semester.
• Your student number, university email account and portal login, and what each is used for.
• Who your department contact and academic supervisor are, and how to reach them.
• Where things are: your department, the library, laboratories, and the administrative offices you will need.

Your programme

This part explains the degree itself, so that you can see the whole of it rather than only the current semester.

• The structure of your programme, year by year.
• How modules and credits work, and how credits accumulate towards graduation.
• Which modules are compulsory and where you may choose.
• The attendance requirement, how absence is recorded, and what an excused absence needs.
• How to read your timetable and your examination schedule.

Assessment and progression

The sections students return to most often.

• How a final mark is made up from coursework, practical work and examinations.
• Conduct in the examination hall, what you may bring, and what counts as misconduct.
• What happens if you fail a module, and how a resit is arranged.
• Where results are published, and the procedure if you believe a mark is wrong.
• Academic integrity: plagiarism, collusion and cheating, and the consequences of each.

Rules, conduct and campus life

• Expected behaviour on campus and the standards that apply to all students.
• Use of the library, laboratories, equipment and IT accounts, and the rules attached to each.
• The disciplinary procedure in outline, including a student's right to be heard.
• Student activities and clubs, and how a student starts one.

Support and services

The handbook lists the services the university provides and tells you who to approach for each — academic difficulty, personal difficulty, financial or administrative questions. If you do not know where a problem belongs, the student affairs office is the correct first door. Facilities available on campus are described under Facilities.

Documents and requests

A short but useful section: how to request a transcript, an enrolment confirmation or other official letter, which office issues it, what to bring, and what identification is required.

Getting a copy, and asking questions

Ask the student affairs or registration office for the edition currently in force; where a downloadable copy is published it appears under Documents. Common questions are also answered under FAQ, and anything the handbook does not cover can be sent through Contact.

If a rule affects you and you are not certain you have read it correctly, ask before acting on your reading of it.