Students should contact their personal tutor, or the Advice and Information Centre in the Students Union, for guidance. Students with specific learning difficulties (e.g. dyslexia) or disabilities may be entitled to some additional study skills support and should be referred to Debbie Viney, the Disability Co-ordinator (Ext 25644, email dsv@soton.ac.uk).
The University Library System has seven libraries:
Over the past few years, Library staff have looked in detail at the needs of part-time students, those working off-campus, and those with disabilities. Some specialist services have been evolving, including the Assistive Technology Centre, where specialist workstation support is available for students with visual impairment and dyslexia. The Library also welcomes feedback on its services, and subject libraries value the opportunity to discuss issues with academic staff and students.
Subject Librarians
| Arts | Nick Graffy | (History) |
| Oren Stone | (Modern Languages/English/Film) | |
| Pam Wake | (Archaeology/Philosophy) | |
| Linda Newington | (Art & Design) | |
| Sonia Bentley | (Music)) | |
| Engineering & Applied Science | Andrew Simpson/Susan Dawson | |
| Law | Joy Caisley | |
| Mathematics | Janet Rhodes | |
| Medicine, Health | Adrienne Norman | (Biological Sciences/School of Health Professions & Rehabilitation Science) |
| Jane Stephenson/ Debra Morris | (Clinical Sciences) | |
| Christine Fowler/Paul Boagey | (Nursing) | |
| New College | Elizabeth Upson | |
| Science | Barbara Dorwood | (Chemistry/Physics) |
| Catherine Foot | (Geography) | |
| Pauline Simpson | (Oceanography/Earth Sciences) | |
| Social Sciences | Janette Cochrane | (Social Statistics) |
| Sonia Bentley | (Educational Studies) | |
| Wendy White | (Psychology/Politics/Economics/Sociology) | |
| Fiona Lindsay | (Management) | |
| Susan Dawson | (Social Work Studies) |
Tutors and supervisors are reminded that application forms from international students should be closely examined to ensure that the student's proficiency in English is sufficient for the course. All students registering for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes require a score of 6.5 on the IELTS (International English Language Testing System), 600 on the TOEFL, or the equivalent in an approved test. However, students applying for Research Degree programmes in the Faculties of Engineering and Applied Science, Mathematical Studies, Science and in the School of Biological Sciences may be admitted subject to having achieved scores of, respectively, 6.0 or 560. A list of countries whose citizens are exempted from these language requirements is available from the Admissions Office. The specific requirements of Senate are set out in the annual circular to undergraduate selectors and in the corresponding leaflet "Notes for Postgraduate Selectors" (see Section 2.8).
Where an applicant does not meet the English language entry requirement, they will normally be required to attend an appropriate qualifying course. In the event of an applicant arriving in Southampton without an approved test result, they will be required to take the IELTS Test in the Language Centre on the next convenient occasion, at a cost of £72 (2001 rate). It is of course preferable if students can arrange to take this test before arriving in Southampton, as their registration will otherwise be delayed until the test results are available.
Queries about specific students and their English language requirements should be discussed in the first instance with the Admissions Office, but further information can also be obtained from the Language Centre. Once students are admitted to the University, all the Language Centre's facilities for English language support are available to them, although a fee is charged for courses which are required for registration purposes (see Section 3.4). The staff of the Language Centre (see Section 3.4) are available to assist international students who want to improve their English further.
The Student Advice and Information Centre (SAIC) (Students' Union) organises an introduction and welcome to the University for international students at the beginning of each session, and produces information packs for international students. If a new student is arriving in your department after that time, please suggest that they contact Liz Robertson, who has special responsibility for international students, in the Student Advice and Information Centre (Ext 25212). The International Officers together with SAIC organise a "Meet and Greet" coach pick-up service for new international students arriving at Heathrow to Southampton, please inform them of the service and ask them to contact Miss Carlene Geddes (Ext 26808 email cjlg@soton.ac.uk) for further information. SAIC also co-ordinates an English conversation scheme for international students who want to improve their spoken English and classes for partners of students who want to learn, or improve, their English.
Supervisors must ensure that research students are provided with detailed and accurate information on access to laboratories, equipment and library facilities prior to the start of the course. Failure to do this can lead to false expectations and affect future recruitment. Word of mouth recommendation is extremely important. You are also encouraged to give more detailed guidance to international students on study methods, particularly in research methodology.
Postgraduate students can find themselves in difficulty if the time required to complete their research or writing up exceeds the period for which they are funded. Supervisors should aim to ensure that students do complete on time, and must also ensure that theses are read and vivas arranged as quickly as possible, normally within two months of submission. Sponsors and students should be given realistic advice on the time likely to be required for the completion of the degree.
The International Women's Club, 93 University Road, offers a meeting place and social contact for women of all nationalities and welcomes international women students and the wives of international students.
Students with an IELTS score of 5.0 or TOEFL 500 are required to attend a 6-week full-time Summer Preparatory Course at a tuition cost of £1,050 (2001 rates) before attending the 8-week pre-sessional course (Course A). Students with an IELTS score of 5.5 or TOEFL 530 are required to attend an eight-week full-time pre-sessional course (Course A) at a cost of £1,600 (2001 rates) or an equivalent 10 week term-time Intensive course. Those with 6.0 IELTS or 560 TOEFL are required to attend a one-month course (Course B) at a cost of £900 (2001 rates). For those requiring a slightly longer course, full-time and part-time courses run throughout the year.
A full-time ten-week EAP Intensive course is offered each term. In order to satisfy the University's English language entry requirements, students with an IELTS score of 4.0 or 450 in TOEFL would normally be expected to require at least three terms of tuition at a cost of £1,850 (2001/2 rates) each term. Students with an IELTS score of 4.5-5.0 or TOEFL 480-500 would normally be expected to require two terms of EAP Intensive courses and an entry level of IELTS 5.5-6.0 or TOEFL 530 or higher would normally be expected to require one term of EAP Intensive courses.
In all cases accommodation costs are in addition to the tuition fees quoted.
Where a student arrives in the University too late for a pre-sessional course or fails to reach a satisfactory standard on the course, he or she may be required to attend a part-time in-sessional Qualifying Course at a cost of £925 (2001/2 rates). These courses are normally only suitable for research students since they involve quite a heavy workload (about 15 hours per week).
Outside these mandatory programmes, the Language Centre provides a range of English language degree and support courses, individual tutorials and self-access learning resources for all international students.
Enrolment for Centre for Language Study, English language support courses for registered students takes place during the first two weeks of the first semester. Students should either go to the Centre for Language Study office (at the Avenue Campus) or to the English Language enquiry point in the Hartley Library (Room 3001, Wolfson Technology Centre), where they can pick up an information leaflet, and follow the instructions for enrolment. They will normally be given advice about an individual scheme of study, chosen from the following facilities offered by the Centre:
The Language Resources Centre is situated at the Avenue Campus and is open from 9.00 am - 6.30 pm Monday - Thursday and 9.00 am - 4.00 pm Friday. There is also a well-stocked language resources room in the Hartley Library. Enquiries and visitors for the English Language Teaching programme are dealt with by Marion Price in the Centre for Language Study Office (Ext 22224, e-mail cmp5@lang.soton.ac.uk. Office hours are from 10.00-16.00 Monday-Friday. Further details are also on the Web at http://www.lang.soton.ac.uk.
| Mr M Newark | Law | Ext 23495 |
| Ms C Winter | Students' Union | Ext 25212 |
| Dr R Green | Central Administration | Ext 23062 |
| Mr Brian JR Bailey | Mathematical Studies | Ext 25137 |
| Dr S J Newman | Engineering and Applied Science | Ext 22303 |
| Dr L Day | French | Ext 23975 |
| Dr A Evans | Social Sciences | Ext 22524 |
| Ms D Stratford | Library (New College) | Ext 24413 |
Disability, for funding purposes, has been defined by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) to include: specific learning difficulty (e.g., dyslexia, dysgraphia); sight impairment; hearing impairment; mobility difficulty; personal care support; "multiple disability"; diabetes, asthma, epilepsy and other chronic medical conditions; mental health difficulties; and "other" disabilities.
Further written information on support for students with disabilities is available in various formats from the contacts below or from the University website.
Your first point of contact should be Deb Viney, the Disability Co-ordinator, Building 16, Highfield Campus, Tel. 023-8059-5644; Ext 25644; or Room A1041, New College campus, Tel: 023-8059-7518; Ext 77518 or e-mail
LDC offers screening tests for dyslexia and arranges academic study skills support with specialised dyslexia tutors.
Tutors handbooks are published to offer guidelines for Tutors as well as information booklets for students.
Geraldine Price is the Adviser to Dyslexic Students. Janet Skinner is the Co-ordinator of Dyslexia Services (Ext 22759;email dyslexia@soton.ac.uk).
Further information about services for dyslexic students can be found on the website at www.dyslexia.soton.ac.uk
The use of Computing Services by all members of the University is subject to the University's General Regulations on the use of computers as well as regulations which apply specifically to Computing Services. Computing Services has a Charter which sets out their expectations of their users and what their users can expect from Computing Services in return.
Computing facilities used primarily for learning and teaching are based in clusters of workstations (over 800 publicly available) on each academic campus and most residential campuses. Each campus has one or more clusters of personal computers and the larger academic campuses also provide clusters of Unix systems. Through these workstations students can make use of a very wide range of applications software and a variety of specialist devices. They may also connect to the centrally managed information services. Students may sign-up ('subscribe') themselves to use these systems. Some specialist systems are available if, say, intensive compute power is required. Students must apply to use these systems on an individual basis and will need the support of their course tutor. On several campuses, specialist workstations are available which feature specialist software and other equipment which may be useful to those with a disability or specific learning difficulty, e.g. dyslexia.
Each cluster of workstations is provided with its own high quality printing facilities. A charge is made for each page printed, to cover the costs of consumables, using a pre-payment card. Data storage media (diskettes) can be purchased on most major campuses through vending machines using the same pre-payment card
During the teaching term staffed advice points (called HelpDesks) are provided at Avenue, Boldrewood, General Hospital, Highfield (east), Highfield (west), New College, Oceanography Centre and Winchester campuses. A telephone and e-mail based ServiceLine for general and technical queries is available throughout each working day during term and vacation.
Introduction to Computing Services' facilities is provided via the Induction Zone: a collection of materials and facilities designed to enable rapid familiarisation:
The Induction Zone consists of:
A copy of the Induction Zone leaflet is sent to all new students.
Most of the materials are aimed primarily at new students, but may also be used by new staff. Introductory leaflets for new staff and students are available at all Computing Services' HelpDesks.
Public workstations can be booked in advance for supervised taught courses. At other times workstations are available on an open access basis. Some workstations areas open late into the evenings and at weekends. Details of workstation cluster locations, opening hours, and the facilities and software provided are given in the printed documentation and are provided on the World Wide Web.
3.7 Supporting Student Learning
The Learning Differences Clinic (LDC) provideds support for all dyslexic students. All students with dyslexia should register with LDC in order for appropriate examination arrangements to be made, and to make sure that appropriate support for individual students is provided. Dyslexic students are often eligible to apply to their LEA or Health Authority for the Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA). This provides technological equipment (such as computer, dictaphone, etc.) and pays for specialised dyslexia tuition.
3.8 Computing Services
The University is committed to providing high quality information systems to support the learning and teaching needs of students. All registered students are entitled to use computing and networking facilities (including electronic mail and access to Internet) provided and supported by Computing Services. Full details on all available services can be found on the web at http://www.soton.ac.uk/~sucsweb.