New Student Support Model: Your questions answered

Your Student Adviser will be assigned to you in the Summer prior to the start of the new Academic Year.   They will be your first point of contact to support you throughout your studies from September 2023.

Your Student Adviser will be part of the BMTO Student Support Team and will be based in the BMTO in the Old Medical School, Teviot Place.

Your Student Adviser can help you with a range of matters including matriculation; course enrolment, applying for special circumstances and/or a coursework extensions.  They can help you with wellbeing, illness or mental health difficulties you may have that are affecting your work, assessments or exams and help you access more special support services in the University.  They can provide or direct you to any official documentations you may require and help navigate you through University policies or regulations.   

You will be able to contact your Student Adviser by email, Teams or in-person.  Contact details for your Student Adviser will be sent to you once they have been assigned to you. 

No, Student Advisers do not contribute an academic role. Student Advisers are professional service staff with extensive experience of wellbeing and welfare issues to provide you with support during your studies, when you need it. This means the Student Advisers are 100% dedicated to supporting you and your fellow students to ensure you get the most out of your time here with us.   

You will still have contact with academics and teaching staff, and your Student Adviser will work closely with colleagues on any specialist academic and study-related questions you have.  Programme-related support will be provided by academic Cohort Leads and with wider academic teams, who will work with you during your programme of study coordinating activities to support the programme and help you to make connections with fellow students and provide access to academic support. 

You can always ask for help from your lecturers, course teams and other teaching staff as you currently do now.  Academic staff will work closely with Student Advisers to provide you with more specialist guidance if needed. 

Just as before, if you have any questions about a specific lecture or other course content please contact your lecturer or Course Organiser/Course Administrator.

The Personal Tutor system has worked well in our Deanery.  By providing additional professional service support for students and maintaining academic support through the Cohort Leaders, we hope that the new system will be able to respond better to the challenges faced by our students and so enhance their university experience.  Although academic staff will no longer be Personal Tutors they will continue to work with the Cohort Leaders to provide advice and guidance to students on academic matters.  Whilst the Personal Tutor role will no longer exist from September 2023, academic staff will continue to play a critical role in your studies and have regular contact with you. 

Yes.  We encourage you to stay in touch with your new Student Adviser on a regular basis as they will be your dedicated contact to support you throughout your studies from next academic year. However, we recognise that you will already have an established relationship with your Personal Tutor and you may wish to contact them for specific advice and academic guidance (for example reference requests) and so contacting your PT for these matters is fine. 

A Cohort Lead is an academic member of staff who provides guidance for you and the other students in your programme year.  They are available to support you in your academic development and provide advice and guidance specific to your programme and discipline.  The Cohort Leads will themselves be supported by a small team of other academics from the Deanery. 

Cohort leads can be contacted directly, usually via email.  There will also be in-person activities held during the academic year when you can meet your Cohort Lead.  You may also be advised to contact your Cohort Lead by your Student Adviser.   

Cohort leads for Years 1-3 for Biomedical and Medical Sciences will be confirmed shortly.  Cohort Leads for Year 4 are Honours Programme Organisers.

A Wellbeing Adviser is there to provide short-term support if you are experiencing issues that are seriously affecting your health, wellbeing or personal life.  They are particularly experienced with more complex needs.  The Wellbeing Adviser Team work closely with the BMTO Student Support Team and other services across the University supporting you in your studies.  The Wellbeing Advisers are not counsellors but can provide a bit more specialist support to students who are struggling. 

Your Student Adviser can contact the Wellbeing Adviser Team on your behalf, or you can self-refer on the Health and Wellbeing website