Hello, everybody and welcome to this informal meeting about the University Helpline.
The Helpline was set up ten years ago by the Students Union and it aims to provide new students to the university with a service that they can use if they need information about practical areas of student life that they are unfamiliar with.
Let me give you some examples of the type of help we can offer.
We can provide information on financial matters; for example, you may feel that your grant is insufficient to see you through college life or you may have some queries regarding the fees you are paying if you are an overseas student.
In both cases, the Helpline would be able to go through things with you and see what the outcome might be.
Another area we can help with is what we generally term the ‘domestic’ area; things such as childcare and the availability of nursery provision, for example, come under this.
Then there’s ‘academic’ issues that may arise while you are in the early stages of your course that you may not know what to do about.
You may wish to know more about essay deadlines, for example,
or how to use the library - there are all kinds of questions you will find yourself asking and not knowing where to get quick answers from.
The Helpline would be able to provide these.
The last example I’ve given here is simply termed ‘social’ - and yes, there is a lot of Q14 social life here!
But you may have a particular interest you wish to pursue or you may wish Q15 to participate in outings or trips if you don’t know many people at the moment.
Let me give you some details so that you know where to go and who to see if you want to pay us a visit.
Generally you will see our Helpline officer Jackie Kouachi,
that’s K-O-U-A- Q16 C-H-I. Jackie is a full-time employee of the Student Union and she works in the Student Welfare Office - that’s the office that deals with all matters related to student welfare and it’s located at 13 Marshall Road.
I have some maps here for those of you who haven’t been there yet.
If you wish to ring the office, the number is 326 99 40. That’s 3269940.
The Ql 7 office is open between 9.30 and 6.00 on weekdays and from 10 to 4 on Saturdays and
there’ll be somebody there - usually Jackie or myself - between those times.
If you want to make an appointment you can phone or call at the office in person.
Please note that it may Q19 not be possible for anyone to see you straight away - particularly if it is a busy time - lunch time for example - and you may have to go on the waiting list and then come back Q20 later.
Well, enough from me. Any questions?
