0393 Impact Report 1819 Final

Advice & Representation
Advice and Representation 2018/19
Students have accessed our services from all five campuses this year – City (77%), Walsall
(21%), Telford (1%), Burton (0.5%) - plus Other partner colleges and TNE (0.5%) with incoming
issues spread across the academic year.
Academic issues comprised the majority of all advice work in ARC during 2018-19, with
queries regarding appeals, progression and extenuating circumstances being most
prevalent.
Tuition Fee debt issues made up the main bulk of finance related enquiries this year, with the
complexity of issues that come with students from non-traditional backgrounds - previous
study, residency etc – continues to require more time-intensive casework, with advisers being
involved with not only appealing Student Finance England (SFE) decisions but having to
negotiate with University Finance, where cases have been taking many months to resolve.
With the introduction of the SU Food Bank this academic year, we have inevitably seen an
increase in Health and Wellbeing referrals into the service, as a result.
3
Next 12 Months
• Reviewing the way we deliver our Get a Head Start Sessions for the coming year, with a view to
reducing barriers to engagement by additionally offering an online streamed versions of the
sessions via Facebook live.
• Continue to further remove barriers to make it easier for students to engage with and send
enquiries to ARC via QR Code added to all literature that links straight to the online enquiry form.
• Working in collaboration with University Student Support and Wellbeing (SSW), alongside the SU’s
Well@Wolves provision, continuing to define the departments role in delivery “non-specialist
wellbeing promotion activities for all students” to hopefully lead to a much better “menu of
choice” for students seeking support ensuring the delivery of activities suitable for all students not
just those requiring specialist intervention through SSW.
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