Student Services Charter
The purpose of this document is to provide a summary of the services covered within Student Services and outline the quality of service that you can expect from us.
Our Services
Student Services provides a wide range of services covering student applications and admissions through to students’ on-course administration and graduation and alumni services. We co-ordinate the timetabling of courses and booking of teaching rooms and we provide advice and guidance on a wide range of welfare matters including money matters as well as providing disability support. We also produce data submissions and reports for external partners including HESA, Student Loan Company (SLC), Teaching Development Agency and the General Teaching Council.
Our Team
- Registrar and Head of Student Services
- Admissions Service
- Student Administration Service
- Student Support Services
- Widening Participation and Access
Student Services' Aims
Student Services aims to provide an excellent service at all times.
We are committed to:
- Providing accurate and prompt information
- Being approachable, helpful and professional at all times
- Working closely with other teams within BSU and our external partners
- Providing a consistent and equitable service for all
- Respecting confidentiality and meeting data protection requirements
How to Contact Us:
- You can contact us via email, phone or, if you prefer, you can call in to see us in person (see the Student Services web pages for details).
- If you are applying for a course at BSU it’s best to phone us in advance to arrange an appointment so we can ensure the most appropriate Admissions Officer is available.
- If you would like to meet with an advisor from the Student Support Service you may wish to make an appointment in advance or take advantage of our drop-in sessions.
- If, due to the nature of your enquiry, you wish to speak to a member of staff in private please let us know. We’ll do our best to provide a suitable room wherever possible..
- Not all of us are located in rooms which are easily accessible for visitors. If you would like to visit us in person but are unsure about accessibility please phone us first so we can advise you and, if needed, we can arrange to meet you at a different location on campus.
Personal Enquiries:
- We aim to give personal attention to all students needing our help. We will take care to understand the full nature of your enquiry and provide you with accurate information, advice and guidance as quickly as we can.
- We do have some exceptionally busy times of year (particularly during student enrolment, examination boards and graduation) when enquiry waiting times may be longer than we would ideally like.
- Written enquiries & enquiries raised via the student portal:
- We aim to respond to written enquiries (letters and more complex enquiries) within 5 working days. We endeavour to respond to enquiries raised via the student portal within 1 working day wherever possible.
Telephone Enquiries:
- We aim to answer all telephone enquiries as promptly as possible or enable the caller to leave a message
- Where the answer to the enquiry is not immediately available we will refer the enquirer to an appropriate member of staff promptly and do so without the caller having to repeat their query multiple times
- We endeavour to return all phone call messages and voicemails within 1 working day
- We will respond to enquiries in a friendly, helpful and professional manner, taking care to understand the full nature of the enquiry
Student Services
Admissions Service
We aim to provide an informative and professional service at all times. We hope to be able to answer any query you may have about the application and admissions process.
Decision making - our aims:
- Undergraduate applications: Once your application is received at UCAS, it is processed and then arrives at Bath Spa University up to 5 days later. Admissions staff will view your application and aim to make a decision within 14 days. If you apply for a course that requires interview or audition, the decision will take some time longer than this.
- PGCE applications: For PGCE applications, once your application
is received at GTTR, it is processed and then arrives at Bath Spa University
up to 5 days later. Admissions staff will view your application to check your
academic qualifications and will then pass the application to the Course Leader
for them to decide if you should be invited to interview.
MA/Taught Postgraduate applications.
For applications to our taught postgraduate courses, the decision-making process begins during the January/February of the year of entry, so if you apply before that time, you will not be contacted until then. After January/February, the Course Leader will view your application and we aim to provide a decision, or an invitation to interview, within one month of your application being received. Please be aware, however, that if you apply for a heavily subscribed course, the process is likely to take longer than this.
We can help with queries and requests relating to:
- Changing the course for which you have applied
- Criminal Records Bureau application
- Deferring or withdrawing your application
- Entry requirements
- Interviews and auditions – what is required, requests for alternative dates, feedback etc.
- Medicals and Suitability Questionnaires
- Non-standard entry (for those who do not meet our academic entry requirements)
- Non-UK qualifications
- Part-time applications
- Qualifications – what we would accept, equivalences etc.
- The structure of our offers
- UCAS and GTTR issues
- UCAS tariff system
- When to apply
Student Administration Service
We're here to answer personal enquiries and queries relating to students' on-course administration. Please contact us if you have a query and we'll be happy to advise you. If it's not something we cover within Student Services we'll do our very best to point you in the right direction...
We can help with queries and requests relating to:
- Assessment process and timetable
- Course dates
- Examinations scheduling and support
- Exam board schedule
- Mitigating circumstances
- Modular scheme
- Staff portal and entry of assessment marks
- Student academic transcript requests (current students)
- Student assessment results
- Student loan notifications to the Student Loan Company to confirm student attendance (so that the SLC can release student loan payments)
- Student module selection and the modular scheme
- Student portal
- Student records (central student records including: course details, module details, assessment results, final award records, course timetables)
- Student registration
- Student requests for a break in study
- Student status certificates
- Student timetables
- Student withdrawal
- Unfair practice
We aim to:
- Respond to emails sent to mycourse@bathspa.ac.uk within 1 working day.
- Post student status certificates for full-time students within 10 working days following completion of a student’s enrolment.
- Notify the Student Loans Company (SLC) of a student’s attendance within 1 working day once the student has completed their enrolment and a request file has been received from the SLC.
Academic Timetabling and Room Bookings
- We work closely with our academic colleagues to produce and maintain an academic timetable which supports teaching requirements and maximises the use of the rooms and space available to us.
- We schedule individual room bookings on request from tutors and other BSU colleagues. We can also take room booking requests from students if a room is required to support their formal studies (e.g. rehearsal space); but, due to space constraints, it may not always be possible to meet these requests.
We aim to:
- Complete a room booking or, where further discussion is required, acknowledge the booking request within 1 working day.
Graduation & Alumni Office
We can help with queries relating to:
- Graduation
- Final award certificates
- Academic transcripts (if you have previously studied at BSU and now need a record of your transcript)
We aim to:
- Meet requests for standard academic transcripts within 10* working days once payment has been received.
- Send replacement certificates within 5* working days once payment has been received.
* During the busiest times of the academic year (e.g. student enrolment and graduation) it can take longer to complete requests.
You can find more information about our graduation and alumni service on our Alumni and Graduation web pages.
Data Management & Reporting
We are responsible for several of BSU's external submissions including:
- HESA annual student record
- Student Loans Council course details
- Initial Teacher Training (ITT) In-Year Record
- HESA campus
- HESEs (for HEFCE)
And we provide data for the following:
- National Student Survey
- Destination of Leavers’ Survey
Student Support Service
We are a team of specialists who work with all students and applicants to help them get the most out of their studies at BSU. We want each student to feel they can raise issues and seek solutions to any aspect of their well-being, both before they start and during their studies at BSU. Our aim is to ensure that everyone is able to study effectively and be prepared for graduation and beyond.
The Student Support Service offers drop-in sessions and bookable 1 to 1 appointments with members of the team. We will work with each student and make sure they have the most appropriate and helpful referral for their needs.
Confidentiality: information is only disclosed at the request of the student and on a need-to-know basis (unless there is reason to believe that the student or any other person is at risk, or if there is a legal obligation to disclose).
We aim to:
- respond to all initial contact within 1 working day.
- assess all Access to Learning (ALF) applications within 4 weeks.
Here are some examples of queries we have helped with:
Welfare and Money Matters
- Welfare and Money Advice:
- Missing home
- Concern about someone else
- Relationships
- Health issues – mental and physical
- Money worries
- Budgeting
- The Access to Learning Fund
- Emergency loans
- Sexual identity
- Academic progression
- Depression
- Workshops on managing anxiety and stress
- Professional counselling
- Issues between housemates
You can email us at:
Disability Support:
We can provide information and advice on:
- Disability Support at Bath Spa
- Disclosing a disability or learning difficulty
- Dyslexia Screening
- Applying for Disabled Students’ Allowances (DSA)
- Special exam provisions
- Organising note-takers, interpreters and other academic support workers
- Early Induction programme for disabled students
- Accessible accommodation
- Parking for disabled people
- Temporary impairments
You can email us at:
Widening Participation
The University is committed to a strategy and plan of action to widen access and increase the participation of people from groups that are currently not well represented in higher education. This includes some socio-economic and minority groups, disabled people and those from a care background. To promote this strategy we are involved in a range of regional and local projects.
- BSU Access Agreement with the Office for Fair Access 2010/11 (.pdf)
- Western Vocational Lifelong Learning Network
- Information on Fees, Grants and Bursaries
What We Ask of You
Students:
We want to support you throughout your studies by providing you with up-to-date information and advice about our services and processes and by alerting you to any key deadlines that may impact you. For this purpose, we ask you to:
- Check your Bath Spa University email at least once a week
- Keep your address and other contact details up-to-date using the student portal. Your email and postal address provide us with our main way to communicate with you so it’s essential that they, along with all your other contact details, are kept up to date.
- Ensure that any information you provide us with is up-to-date (and you advise us of any changes)
- Do your upmost to keep any appointments you make with us (and let us know if you're not able to attend)
Comments & Feedback:
We'd welcome your feedback.
Please forward your comments to: