Final year student support
We understand your final year of university can be a stressful time, and you may need to access support from different parts of the university.
Careers and Employability, Academic Skills, Student Wellbeing Services, Accommodation and Library and Learning Services have teamed up to create this webpage. It's been designed to direct you towards all the support available to help prepare for life after university, how to access ways to support your mental health, and how to get help with your learning to achieve your degree goals.
We want to see you succeed in your final year and help you to prepare for what comes next.
Support from Careers and Employability
The Careers team are on-hand to help prepare you for the next steps after university. There are a number of specific support options available.
In your final year, we recommend securing graduate careers support for after you have left Bath Spa by signing up to the Grad Support Unit.
The Careers and Employability service has developed on-demand digital guides and resources to support your career journey.
To access our full range of resources on topics such as preparing job applications, networking, freelancing, self-employment and our sector guides, please see the Careers' resources page.
You can also log in to our online careers platform MyCareer to view further enhanced resources. After you graduate, you'll just need to register for a graduate account to continue accessing MyCareer.
The Bath Spa Graduate Scheme enables you to begin your career at Bath Spa University, providing you with an insight into higher education as well as ensuring a smooth transition into the workplace.
You’ll be fully supported when it comes to learning and development for the duration of the 18 month graduate scheme. This includes being matched with a mentor from the senior leadership team alongside an intensive structured training and development programme.
There are a range of roles on offer where you can support academic and professional services across the university. Roles are for 18 months, start mid-August or early September and have a starting salary of £26,707.
Applications usually open by early Spring and are advertised for a month, with the offer of application support. If you have any queries about the scheme you can ask a question on MyCareer.
During the 2025/26 academic year, BSU’s Careers and Employability Service lead schemes including:
These are open to eligible current students and eligible recent graduates. Schemes that will be available for 2026/27 are to be confirmed and this section will be updated in due course.
Students and graduates can also visit BSU’s scholarships and bursaries page where funds are added or updated throughout the year.
The Go From Zero team offers coaching, workshops, and showcase opportunities throughout the year. They also run the Explore It! Launch It! Grow It! funding scheme, open to students and recent graduates.
If you're looking to develop your freelance portfolio, you can also join Juno House to get access to paid work from clients in the Bath region. Grow your skills, network, and portfolio, all while earning some cash.
Support from Student Wellbeing Services
Recommendations for information, advice and support services for final year students.
- Speak with your doctor
- Shout! A 24/7 text messaging service for anyone in crisis, anywhere, anytime
- Samaritans: Suicide Prevention, 24/7 phoneline available
- Mind: National Mental Health Charity where you can access resources and helplines
- PAPYRUS: Prevention of young suicide
- Visit MyWellbeing to book an appointment with a Mental Health Advisor
- Student Wellbeing Helpline: access to advice and support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
- BSU SVDA Caseworker and GBV support: Our team of Sexual Violence and Domestic Abuse Caseworkers and Gender-Based Violence Caseworker have had specialist training to support and advise students who have experienced any form of sexual violence and/or abusive relationship.
Contact Student Wellbeing Services to request an appointment with a Gender-Based Violence Caseworker/Sexual Violence Liaison Officer. - The Survivor Pathway: An online resource for anyone seeking specialist sexual violence support services in the South West
- Refuge: A UK-based domestic violence charity for women and children
- SafeLink: Sexual violence support and advice across the Avon and Somerset area.
- SARI: Stand Against Racism and Inequality
- Nilaari: Black, Asian and Ethnic led Charity that provides mental health assistance in the form of various talking therapies
- The Monitoring Group: One of the most established anti-racist groups in the UK.
- Access to Work Scheme: Government support to assist you in a working environment
- Personal Independence Payment: Government financial support to assist with living costs
- National Careers Service: Careers support and advice
- Visit MyWellbeing to book an appointment with a Disability Advisor.
- Turn2Us: Practical support for those facing financial challenges
- The Money Charity: Financial advice and resources
- Visit MyWellbeing to book an appointment with a Financial Advisor.
- Citizens Advice Bureau: Offering online and in-person advice surrounding a range of topics such as work, debt, housing, immigration and law.
Support from the Library
The Library is here to support you as you complete your final year, whether you are working on a dissertation, finishing your final assignments, preparing for a project, or simply looking for a quiet place to study.
Your Subject Librarian can help you find and use the best resources for your subject. They can support you with search strategies, using databases, finding literature, evaluating sources, and making the most of the Library’s collections.
If you can't find what you need in the Library, your Subject Librarian can help you explore wider resources, suggest alternatives, or advise on requesting material through the Inter Library Loan Service.
Find out who your librarian is to book an appointment here: Subject resources A-Z – Bath Spa University
The Library offers a range of quiet and group study spaces for you to use. If you want to guarantee a space to study ahead of your visit, you can book a group study room, an individual study desk, or the Sensory Study Room depending on your needs.
Find your perfect study location or book your study space on our dedicated webpage.
You can get help from Library staff in person, online, or through our online chat service.
Whether you need help finding a resource, accessing online materials, using databases, or asking a general Library question, the team will be happy to help.
Support from Academic Skills
The final year can mean a different type of workload. The Academic Skills team are here to help with things such as dissertation writing skills and other research skills.
Book an appointment with an advisor to look at your research project or dissertation. Each student can have up to four appointments for a dissertation or research project; appointments are available Mon-Fri, online and in-person.
Our Learning Development Advisors will help you improve your writing, referencing, structure and critical thinking across your work.
Completing primary research and needing help with statistical tools? Our Maths and Stats advisor can support you with using SPSS, JASP, R and Excel. Appointments are available Tues – Thurs 10.00-3.00, online and in-person.
This document outlines the structure of a typical dissertation and gives advice on how to approach and write each section.
Writing a literature review is a key part of any dissertation or research project; this video lays out how to structure each element of a review of the literature and the content to include.
This project management video takes you through some key steps in managing a project and gives strategies to help you complete a project on time.
Graduate support
We're here to support you. Whether it's advice on accommodation or careers services, there's a lot of support on offer to help you transition from university into employment and beyond.
We want to see you succeed and help you to prepare for what comes next.
Graduate support from Careers and Employability
The Careers team can offer support after graduation through resources, advice and placements.
We recommend securing graduate careers support for after you have left Bath Spa University by signing up to the Grad Support Unit.
The Bath Spa Graduate Scheme enables you to begin your career at Bath Spa University, providing you with an insight into higher education as well as ensuring a smooth transition into the workplace.
You’ll be fully supported when it comes to learning and development for the duration of the 18 month graduate scheme. This includes being matched with a mentor from the senior leadership team alongside an intensive structured training and development programme.
There are a range of roles on offer where you can support academic and professional services across the university. Roles are for 18 months, start mid-August or early September and have a starting salary of £26,707.
Applications usually open by early Spring and are advertised for a month, with the offer of application support. If you have any queries about the scheme you can ask a question on MyCareer.
The Grad Internship Programme matches your talents with opportunities that are fully paid, exclusive and tailored to recent Bath Spa University graduates.
These types of opportunities typically take place with local businesses and are either six weeks long, working 30 hours per week, or 12 weeks long, working 15 hours per week.
Applications usually open in the summer every year. If you have any questions or queries, you can ask a question on MyCareer.
All UK university leavers will be contacted fifteen months after graduation to complete the national Graduate Outcomes Survey.
Your voice will have a meaningful impact on students for years to come, so please share your journey after graduation with us by taking part.
To find out more, visit the Graduate Outcomes website.
During the 2025/26 academic year, BSU’s Careers and Employability Service lead schemes including:
These are open to eligible current students and eligible recent graduates. Schemes that will be available for 2026/27 are to be confirmed and this section will be updated in due course.
Students and graduates can also visit BSU’s scholarships and bursaries page where funds are added or updated throughout the year.
The Careers and Employability service has developed on-demand digital guides and resources to support your career journey.
To access our full range of resources on topics such as preparing job applications, Networking, freelancing, self-employment and our sector guides, please see the Careers' resources page.
You can also log in to MyCareer, our online careers platform, to view further enhanced resources.
After you graduate, you'll just need to register for a graduate account to continue accessing MyCareer.
The Go From Zero team offers coaching, workshops, and showcase opportunities throughout the year. They also run the Explore It! Launch It! Grow It! funding scheme, open to students and recent graduates.
If you're looking to develop your freelance portfolio, you can also join Juno House to get access to paid work from clients in the Bath region. Grow your skills, network, and portfolio, all while earning some cash.
Graduate support from the Library
As a Bath Spa University alumnus, you have access to a number of resources after graduation.
Recent graduates can also access selected online Library resources for six months after graduation. These currently include the following which can be accessed using the alumni resource links provided by the University.
- Drama Online, offering full text editions of over 2,300 plays from the Greeks to the present
- JSTOR, which provides the full text of over 1,000 journals
Learn more about accessing the Library as an alumnus on the Library's access and services pages.
After you finish your studies, you can apply for free alumni Library membership for one year. This gives you access to the Library building, drop-in study spaces, enquiry services, and the print collection.
As an alumni Library member, you can borrow up to five books at a time and continue using the Library as a place to study, read, or carry out independent research.
To apply please complete the External Borrower Application Form, and choose 'Alumni' as the type of Library membership.
Graduate support from Student Wellbeing Services
In addition to the extensive list of useful links in the section above, there are also a number of places to find support with areas like taxation and Student Loan repayments.
Employment means you'll be paying certain taxes and contributions. Links to useful web pages for more information below:
- Emergency Services: If someone is seriously ill, injured or their life is at risk call 999
- Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust: If you are experiencing a mental health crisis or supporting someone in crisis you can contact AWP on 0800 953 1919
- Alternatively, you can visit the local Accident and Emergency Department.
For more information on disability right in employment, visit the gov.uk pages.
Advice on accommodation for Graduates
The resources below aim to highlight a few key points on how to find accommodation after you have finished university. Please note that if you do have any queries or concerns, you can contact Citizens Advice.
There are multiple routes to finding housing after university. It all depends on what you are looking for. You may wish to try:
If you're part of a group looking for a house/flat, then your best bet will be Rightmove or Zoopla.
If you're planning on moving somewhere brand-new and you don’t yet know anyone, then Spareroom can often be a great resource.
If you're moving to an area where you already have established links, then try asking friends or family if they know anyone. If you can get a personal recommendation, it'll give both you and the prospective landlord some security.
With all these routes, please exercise careful judgement moving in with people you don’t know.
Sometimes it can be quite difficult to get your foot into the rental market, but a bit of broad advice is:
- You'll likely need a reference from previous landlords. The BSU Accommodation team is unable to act as a referee, however, the Fees team can provide a financial reference and confirm the period of your stay in Bath Spa Accommodation. They can be contacted at fees@bathspa.ac.uk
- You'll need a job that matches or exceeds the cost of rent and bills – see the Shelter website for more advice.
- Money for a deposit to secure the accommodation.
The deposit is usually in two parts: a holding deposit (up to one week's rent maximum) to reserve the property, and a tenancy/security deposit (up to 5-6 weeks' rent maximum). The landlord or letting agent must keep your deposit safe using a government-approved tenancy deposit protection scheme.
Since the introduction of the Renters' Rights Act on 1 May 2026, renters are now entitled to more security and flexibility. An APT (assured periodic tenancy) no longer has an end date and runs on a rolling basis, usually monthly. When you're ready to leave, you give two months' notice.
For a full guide on your rights as a tenant, visit the UK Gov website.
- As soon as you move in, locate and take pictures of your energy meter(s). You don’t want to pay more for electricity than necessary
- Complete your inventory to make sure you won’t be blamed for any pre-existing damage to the flat. Take photos
- Find out the day you put the bins and recycling out
- Transfer utility bills or set up brand new ones. If you have friends who are already with a particular company, it’s worth asking for a reference code, as you'll usually both be rewarded.
Depending on where you've lived before, you may be used to paying bills. However, moving out after university will mean paying some new ones, such as Council Tax.
There are a limited number of circumstances where Council Tax is reduced, which is further explained on the UK Government webpages on council tax.
For a list of bills for which you'll be responsible, there's information on the Zoopla website.
For a wide variety of reasons, students can’t always move into the private sector straight after university. Consider your options and work out what is most sensible for you.
If it's possible to move back home for a few months to save some money while you work, then consider doing that.
If you have nowhere to go, then you may wish to consider whether or not you might be classified as homeless. If yes, then please consult the government information and contact your local council authority, who are best placed to guide you.