Academic Families

Image

What is an Academic Family?

The aims of the Academic Family system are to encourage the forming of friendships, to foster a sense of belonging and to ensure that new students quickly feel part of the community within the School.  Academic families offer a welcoming environment where new students can feel comfortable in seeking advice from Junior/Senior Honours students on all sorts of issues - about academic course choices, direct entry, student societies, how to balance study with employment, indeed almost any issue for new students in their first year of university life.

For a new student entering university you may have lots of questions – finding answers from students already on the programme is one way to help you quickly settle into your new life and make the most of your time at Edinburgh. However, it is important to remember that support may be useful throughout your first year of study, perhaps at exam time, returning into semester 2 or looking ahead to the next academic year.

Therefore, every Academic Family will meet a minimum of 2-3 times per semester during your first year. Although there is a student-proposed topic for each meeting, the autonomy of each family means that meetings can be tailored or added depending on the individual needs of each group of students.

Key facts

• All new undergraduate students within Biomedical Sciences are automatically allocated into an Academic Family, each led by two or three trained senior students. You'll receive a welcome email telling you when your first family meeting is, and you'll meet your family leaders during Welcome Week.
• Academic Family support is available throughout your first year of study with 2-3 family meetings each semester.
• Each meeting is tailored to your needs, with plenty of time to ask questions and get advice on a variety of issues - there are no silly questions!

Schedule

There are no set dates for the Academic Family meetings - each family arranges their own according to the needs of the group. As an idea, your timetable may follow roughly this pattern:

Semester 1

Welcome Week or Week 1 - Introduction to the University of Edinburgh

Week 5 - Settling in and time management; reflections on University life so far; progress and problems

Week 10 - Coping with stress and exam/revision technique

Semester 2

Week 3 - Making the most of Semester 2

Week 7 - Looking ahead; making course choices for next year

Got any questions?

Dr Allison Wroe is the academic lead on the Academic Families scheme and is happy to answer any questions you may have.