Personal Tutors' Handbook

Personal Tutors develop a supportive, non-authoritarian role with a small group of students whom they get to know very well and who are expected to consult them over any problems that they encounter. 

Departmental Tutors allocate personal tutors and co-ordinate their work; they are ultimately responsible for the academic progress, welfare and discipline of all students in their department but, except in very small departments, cannot hope to get to know them all individually.

Departmental tutors are responsible for much of the general running of their department from the student’s point of view. They usually have charge of departmental recruitment literature, selection and registration of courses, student registration and induction arrangements, progress and attendance records/reports, co-ordination of exam arrangements, scholarships and representation of students at examiners’ meetings. They are expected to ensure that references are provided for students. They liase with faculty tutors over matters of interruption in student study, deferred assessment for non-final-year exams and withdrawal from exams.

Departmental tutors are the natural port of call for students with queries about procedures and regulations but they also help their personal tutors deal with a variety of student problems.

Faculty Tutors are the admissions officers for a faculty and liaise with the Registry over student registration, fees, examinations, and other academic matters; they are appointed by the Provost and charged with ensuring that each student’s registration, academic progress and examination entry details satisfy the relevant degree/diploma regulations.

Faculty tutors co-ordinate the work of departmental tutors and have overall charge of students’ academic progress, welfare and discipline within a faculty. They deal with a number of serious student problems referred to them by departmental and/or personal tutors. They deal directly with students who need advice on the options they face after failing or not taking major exams and with those who have difficulty paying their fees. They deal with interruption of student study, deferred assessment, and withdrawal from exams etc.

Faculty Tutors are responsible for all communications about students with LEAs and other outside bodies .

Some students contact faculty tutors directly, particularly if they have a grievance concerning their department.

The Dean of Students (Academic) co-ordinates the work of faculty tutors and liaises with the Registrar on a range of issues relating to students’ academic work and progress, edits the College’s undergraduate and graduate prospectuses and supervises the advertising of programmes of study, as well as being Vice Chair of Academic Committee and chairing the Academic Advisory Sub-Committee.

More detail on the responsibilities of the Dean of Students (Academic) may be found in the online Academic Manual (link http://www.ucl.ac.uk/academic-manual/part-5), as well as relevant contact details.

The Dean of Students is the overall co-ordinator of all aspects of welfare and student discipline in the College and is the line-manager for key welfare services (the Student Counselling Service, the Student Health Service, the Student Residences Office and the Careers Service). The Dean deals with a number of specific welfare and disciplinary matters referred by personal/departmental/faculty tutors and any problems that students bring directly. The Dean’s Office provides a number of direct services to students, in particular loans to those in temporary financial difficulty and information on religious advisers available to University of London students.

More information on the responsibilities of the Dean of Students (Welfare) may be found in the online Academic Manual (link http://www.ucl.ac.uk/academic-manual/part-5), as well as relevant contact details.
See also Dean of Students (Welfare) website

The Deputy Dean of Students deputises for the Dean of Students (Welfare) and shares responsibility for dealing with a wide range of welfare and disciplinary matters; the Deputy Dean has specific responsibility for administering the College Access Hardship Fund and a series of loans and bursaries for students experiencing financial hardship.

More information on the responsibilities of the Deputy Dean of Students (Welfare) may be found in the online Academic Manual (link http://www.ucl.ac.uk/academic-manual/part-5), as well as relevant contact details.

There is a member of academic staff to whom women students may turn for help either for specifically female problems or because they prefer to talk to a woman.

More information on the responsibilities of the Adviser to Women Students may be found in the online Academic Manual (link http://www.ucl.ac.uk/academic-manual/part-5), as well as relevant contact details.