Wellbeing, academic support and student experience

The wellbeing, support and student experience of our students is of paramount importance and starts as early as an application being made - University isn’t just about studying.

The School of Computer Science has extensive support mechanisms, two dedicated Wellbeing Officers, and two Student Experience Officers, whose main role is to look after our students’ mental and physical health, and provide a wide range of social and holistic activities outside of studying.

Academic support

Transitioning to University can be a significant experience, and we want to ensure there is plenty of support for you, should you need it.  Students have access to a Personal Tutor, various ways to speak with module leads and academic staff and support sessions/lab drop ins with more senior students and teaching assistants available to help.

The School of Computer Science has two extensive computing labs, just for computer science students, with ultrawide monitors, dual working spaces for PC and laptop use, and a GPU lab, where each machine has a latest generation Nvidia GPU.  Our students learn and engage via Canvas, our virtual learning environment.

After office hours, the department is on swipe-only, and can only be accessed by computer science students and staff, provide a comfortable environment to study in in the daytime, evenings and at weekends.  There is also a full wireless network, bookable seminar and meeting rooms with plasma screens, booth areas and collaborative student/staff teaching spaces to use.

Students that would like to access additional support during their studies can enrol with the Academic Skills Centre, and take advantage of PASS (Peer Assisted Study Sessions).

The School also holds a regular Staff/Student Forum (SSF), where students from various programmes and years representing the student body and feedback any issues to the academic faculty.

Wellbeing

Our trained Wellbeing Officers work solely for the welfare of our students, and are available for students to speak with on daily, talk through any concerns they may have, receive support and guidance, and to receive guidance and assistance in any academic arrangements (authorised extensions, leave of absences etc.)

They can also recommend sources of professional help, direction to our central student support services and can signpost students to additional support out-of-hours.

Our Wellbeing Officers can also support students with any additional needs (long-standing or new) and study arrangements.  Making sure our students are physically and mentally supported and knowing that help is there should they need it at any point in their academic experience is incredibly important. 

There are opportunities to start engaging with the University to discuss what support we can offer you as soon as an application to Birmingham is made.

Find out more about your wellbeing at Birmingham.

Student Experience

Our Student Experience Officers’ sole role is to look after the social and holistic experience of our students. They engage with our student societies, our student body during Staff/Student Rep Forums, assist with any issues, and provide a range of social and holistic activities for the computer science student community.

Events include cultural, religious and EDI-related, sports-related, relaxation activities, hackathons, quiz nights, movie nights, and industry activities, and our Student Experience Officers work continuously with the student body, to understand the needs, backgrounds and requirements of our students, and to deliver new and varied events.

Student Societies

There are over 300 societies at the University of Birmingham, including our departmental society (CSS – the Computer Science Society). 

Many students in the School of Computer Science like to join related societies, but there is a huge range of groups to choose from (ranging from sports-related, country-specific, cultural and religious, culinary-related, acting/musical, to name but a few) and students are free to join as many as they like.

Some societies our students like to join include:

Further information can be found on the Guild student groups website.