No Images? Click here University Updates Welcome to your first newsletter of the new academic year. This issue is packed with information on support for your health and wellbeing as well as important things to note for your academic studies and some upcoming University news and events. If you have any feedback about this newsletter or other communications you receive from the University, please contact us. Updates to the Penryn campusTwo new learning lounges have been created on the first floor of the Peter Lanyon building and third floor of Daphne Du Maurier near the seminar rooms. These are informal study areas for individual or group work. Wellbeing supportLooking after your wellbeing can have a big impact on your experience at university. Developing skills which can build your resilience can help you to cope with any challenges that you may face during your studies and keep you feeling at your best. Take a look at the Wellbeing Toolkit developed by the Wellbeing Service to help you think about your wellbeing and build skills which can help you make the most of all of the amazing opportunities available to you at University. Your safety: drink spikingYou may have seen in the press that a Falmouth University student was recently admitted to hospital following a suspected drink spiking incident. The student is recovering well and the incident is being investigated by the police. Whilst drink spiking is never the fault of the victim and always the fault of the perpetrator, there are steps you can follow to minimise the chances of it happening to you on the NHS website. Make sure your vaccinations are up to date University students are known to be at increased risk of meningitis and septicaemia. The MenACWY vaccination is available free to all under 25 years olds. There are also cases of measles in the UK and the only prevention is two doses of the MMR vaccine. Contact your doctors' surgery to check if you have had these vaccines and book an appointment if not. Students registered at the Penryn Surgery can receive the MenACWY vaccine on Monday 22 and 29 October on campus - call 01326 372502 to book or find out about registering with the surgery. Black History MonthOctober is Black History Month 2018. This is an amazing opportunity to celebrate the achievements of Britain's African and Caribbean communities and learn more about the culture and history of the African diaspora. There will be numerous events going on within the University and wider communities so make sure you check social media for updates but in the meantime, why don’t you test your history knowledge with this BHM quiz. January examsAll exam dates can be found on the website and the next exams will be held between Monday 7 and Saturday 12 January. You must be available for the duration of the exam period and bring your Unicard to every exam. Read the Guidance to Candidates, contact cc-exams@exeter.ac.uk if you have any questions. If you need specific exam arrangements due to a disability, learning difference or injury, you must make an appointment to see Accessibility Services - email studentservices@fxplus.ac.uk or phone 01326 253629 and have your appointment before 2 November. Read more information about exam arrangements. Your safety: walking homeCornwall is generally a safe place to live but it is always best to be aware of potential dangers and take some precautions, particularly when going home late at night. Let someone know where you are going and when you expect to be back and never let your friends walk home alone or walk home on your own. Your Academic Personal TutorYour tutor is a named academic contact who you can talk to about your academic, personal and professional development. As a reminder, you and your tutor will talk at key points in your study, and meetings will be scheduled for this. These will focus on your transition into the next year of study, preparing for assessments, responding to feedback, and thinking about planning for your career or further study. You can also talk to your tutor if you are worried about an assessment deadline, are having problems with attendance, or have personal matters you think are affecting your studies. Watch our Student Guide to Academic Personal Tutoring. Your safety: drugsWe have a zero tolerance drugs policy at the University. We may invite police patrols onto campus and if drugs are found on your person or in your accommodation, this could have serious consequences that impact you for the rest of your life (for example, the US and Australia deny entry to visitors who have had convictions for drug related offences). Get support from our graduatesOur graduates (also known as alumni) can help you in many ways. For example, you can invite a graduate to do a talk or workshop to benefit your Society or you can apply for funding from the Alumni Annual Fund. The first round of applications for this year's funding closes on 28 October so apply as soon as possible. Travelling to campus by bus and carFind out more about how to travel to the campus by bus and recent improvements to bus services in the latest travel update. Remember to leave plenty of time for your journey as for the first few weeks of term, buses are extremely busy at peak times. We encourage all students and staff to use sustainable transport wherever possible and do not recommend commuting by car. Find out more about sustainable travel options and read our parking policy. Please note that if you do travel to campus by car and decide not to park on campus, please ensure you park legally and respectfully - local residents are advised to contact the police if they witness illegal, dangerous or inconsiderate parking. Register attendance at lectures on your phone or laptopUse the new Attendance tile on iExeter to sign in to all of your timetabled activities through our new Digital Check In service. We tested it last year with a selection of students who liked it, we hope you do too. Please contact your Info Point if you have any questions. Academic integrity and honestyAcademic integrity and honesty is a key part of higher education and is taken very seriously at the University. Turnitin is the computer programme we use to check for similarities in written work against material within its database (such as texts and publications) to help us identify possible cases of plagiarism. This year, more courses will be using Turnitin for submission of written assignments. To avoid any issues, please ensure any material you use is appropriately referenced or attributed to the original author. You can read more about this in the Academic Honesty module on ELE which shows in your course list or in Chapter 12 of the Teaching Quality Assurance Manual. Please speak to your Academic Personal Tutor if you have any questions. Don't forget to vote!Vote now for who you want to represent you throughout the next academic year in the FXU Course Rep, Leadership Team and Committee Elections! Find out about all the roles up for election and how to cast your vote on the FXU website New digital library resourcesAlmost £1m was spent by the Library this summer on acquiring significant new online resources for the University. These include e-books, e-journal back issues and large numbers of digitised archives. The archives cover newspapers from the UK, the Americas, Russia, South Asia and the Caribbean; the full collection of the State Papers Online; specialist archives on African and Irish history, LGBTQ history and culture, crime and punishment, 18th century drama and the archives of the East India Company. For more information and to get access, see the Library’s A-Z list of all resources available. Need a letter confirming student status?You can generate official documents to confirm your student status for things such as your bank account and council tax by going to the Student Records and Registration tile on iExeter. You can then choose 'Generate Self Service Letters' and choose the letter you need to download it as a PDF with a stamp and signature. Please contact SID for help or hard copies of letters. Interested in postgraduate study?Our next postgraduate open days are coming soon - you can book your place now for the Streatham (Wed 14 Nov) and Penryn (Mon 19 Nov) events. Hear from current Masters and PhD students, find out about scholarships and funding, talk to staff about your options and enjoy a coffee on us. Loans for Doctoral-Level study now availableIf you are thinking of doing a postgraduate research course at doctoral level (for example a PhD), you can now apply for a student loan to help finance your study. Find out more about the Doctoral Loan scheme on the government website and information about Doctoral and PhD degrees available at the University of Exeter can be found on the postgraduate research webpages. Professionalisation of our Postgraduate Teaching Assistant rolesAs you may know, our postgraduate students often support your learning as teaching assistants. To ensure that they have the same opportunities and employment conditions as our other staff members and based on feedback from our postgraduates, we've now developed a range of contract types to suit the needs of our Postgraduate Teaching Assistants. Follow the University of Exeter on Chinese social mediaWe have an official WeChat and Weibo account for the University of Exeter. Follow us by scanning the QR codes below. You can also search for us ‘ExeterUni’ on WeChat or ‘UniofExeter’ on Weibo. Aspiring undergraduate researchers, exhibit your work!This year’s Undergraduate Research Showcase is now open, and is your chance to share your exciting research as a poster, abstract or both. The two winning posters will attend a national student exhibition in Parliament in March 2019 and the two winning abstracts will receive places at the British Conference of Undergraduate Research in April 2019. The showcase is open to students across all disciplines and campuses, and your research can be from a project on your course or any other University activity you have been part of. More information is on the Showcase website. Community updatesPlease take a look at our new Community Guide which contains useful tips on being a good neighbour as well as important contact details. Also, the Autumn edition of the community newsletter, written on behalf of University of Exeter, Falmouth University and FXU Students’ Union is now available online. This newsletter is distributed to homes in Penryn and Falmouth. Evening language classesThere are evening language classes in French, German, Italian, Spanish and Latin starting the week commencing 8 October. These non-credit bearing courses run for 20 weeks during the autumn and spring terms. Courses are open to students, staff and alumni and are an opportunity to learn a language in a relaxed and social environment. Boost your employability with our new online training and development portalMy Career Zone Digital is our new online training and development portal. It includes free Microsoft Office training, E-Learning courses on topics such as Business Numeracy and Negotiation, assessments on your personality and skills, as well as sector reports to help boost your commercial awareness. Access the platform through My Career Zone. Career fairsCome along to one of the Autumn Careers Fairs on the Penryn Campus: Volunteering Fair, Tuesday 9 October, 11:00-14:00, The Sports Centre Careers & Opportunities Fair, Wednesday 7 November, 11:00-14:00, The Sports Centre Study and Work Abroad Fair, Wednesday 14 November, 11:00-14:00, The Compass Free transport to our Exeter-based careers fairsBook on to our free transport to our Streatham Campus in Exeter to attend one or both of the following Careers Fairs. Spaces are limited and bookings are on a first come, first served basis. Careers and Placement
Fair sponsored by Teach First Exeter Student Ambassador Scheme: apply nowWe are looking for current students who would like to share their experiences with others, to join the Exeter Student Ambassador Scheme. Student ambassadors work on a wide variety of paid jobs (e.g. promoting their subject, campus tours, open days, workshops with schools and mentoring), and are able to increase their employability and skills while doing so. Find out more and apply by Friday 19 October 2018 at 17:00. Chaplaincy events Doing the Green Thing Together - 29 October to 2 November Waking up to Planetary Health 2018 - 7 November, RILD Building, Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital Tell us what you think of this newsletter: Get in touch with your feedback or news stories at: studentcomms@exeter.ac.uk |