Personal tutors help you with your academic and personal development whilst you are at university. That might not sound important, but it’s crucial support during your studies. Your personal tutor will know you and how you learn; and will help you get the most out of your studies. Personal tutors help in many ways:
Every student at Bristol is different: you might have different circumstances, different learning styles or different strengths and weaknesses to those around you. Whilst a degree course can’t cater for every student's taste, the support you receive from your personal tutor should be just that: personal, set up to help you.
Your department/school may ask you to complete pre-set development work during personal tutor sessions. This is intended for your benefit, it is up to you whether you complete it. The terms of your relationship should be an agreement between you and your tutor, and you should feel free to talk to your tutor about the kind of help that you need.
Academic support and personal tutoring is about making sure you have someone you can rely on in the University to support you. Please take advantage of, and engage with, these support opportunities. Don’t suffer in silence or hope a problem will work itself out – most of the time it doesn’t.
There are three different elements to academic support across the University. These might be combined differently in some departments/schools, but each of these roles should be there in some form. If you’re on a professional course, eg medicine, these roles might have different titles but the support described should still be available to you.
Your academic personal tutor is your main contact within the department/school throughout your studies, and can offer advice on both academic and personal matters. This person should know you reasonably well, keep an eye on how you’re doing, meet you regularly, and be there if you need to arrange an individual appointment. They should also be your first source of advice for things like:
Usually, you’ll have the same academic personal tutor throughout your time at Bristol, unless this is not possible, or you request otherwise.
Your personal tutor will arrange contact with you. This might be by way of small groups or one-to-one meetings (or a mixture of the two), depending on your course of study. As a minimum you should expect:
You should feel free to contact your personal tutor at any time outside of the scheduled contact times.
The senior tutor is an academic in your department/school who provides additional support if you need it. Your personal tutor may ask you to see the senior tutor if you have issues that are likely to significantly affect progress with your studies without targeted support, help, and guidance. The senior tutor takes the lead on personal tutoring in their department/school, supports personal tutors and will be knowledgeable about alternative sources of support.
As the person overseeing personal tutoring in your department/school, you may wish to see the senior tutor if you have an issue with the provision of academic support or feel that you need to change your personal tutor for any reason.
Not all students feel comfortable discussing things that might have an impact on their studies with academic staff who are teaching them or assessing their work. If you feel you can’t approach a member of the academic staff, a member of your department/school’s administrative team will be designated as an alternative, confidential source of advice. Please remember that all members of University staff are committed to supporting you and helping ensure your studies are successful.
If you feel you need to go beyond your department/school entirely, the Students’ Union's Just Ask service offers free, independent, confidential advice from a team of professional, full-time advisers.
