IMESS - Student Handbook

INTERNATIONAL MASTERS
IN ECONOMY,
STATE & SOCIETY

with reference to
Central and Eastern Europe

IMESS Scholarship Funding Category A deadline:
27 April 2012

IMESS Scholarship Funding Category B deadline:
27 April 2012

Non-scholarship applications deadline:
27 April 2012

IMESS Student Handbook

Services for Students with individual needs

What to do when you have problems

Very occasionally students experience problems. In the main these are easily resolved and occur during the ‘settling in’ period. However, for some problems it is useful to know that help is available if needed. Whatever your problem - financial, personal, academic - talking to someone can help. Your personal tutor is, of course, available to talk with you confidentially but there are also other services available within the college. The SSEES site committee of UCL Students Union has a Welfare Officer who can provide help, counselling and support. Further assistance is available through the UCL Student Union where officers can advise on legal, financial and contractual situations, and can intervene on your behalf with third parties. For issues affecting registration, such as financial hardship or residency problems, you should arrange to see the Faculty Tutor, who may also be consulted over major academic problems. Students should seek the advice of the Dean of Students if facing major financial problems.

Academic Problems

If you are experiencing problems keeping up with work or are unable to meet a deadline or if you are having difficulties with a particular course, you should first speak to your Personal Tutor or to the relevant Course Tutor. The Programme Director or Deputy Director will also be able to help.

Personal Problems

If you are experiencing personal problems, the person best equipped to help you in the first instance is your Personal Tutor. S/he will liaise with your tutors or other members of staff on your behalf, if you want him/her to, and will endeavour to point you in the right direction to sort out any problems. If your personal problems are affecting your academic performance, then you should also speak with your course tutors and the Programme Director so that they can make allowances for these issues. They can only help you if they know what is going on! UCL also offers a counselling service for any student who feels they would benefit from it.

Health and Welfare Services

All UCL students are entitled to access the free health and welfare services offered by the college.

The UCL Health Centre is at 3 Gower Place. The reception is to be found on the second floor. The centre is open from 9.00-5.30 Monday – Friday and an emergency service operates on Saturday morning between 9.30-10.30. For an appointment call 020 7387 6306.

The UCL Counselling Service is just down the road from us at 3 Taviton Street and can offer individual counselling sessions lasting for 50 minutes. These sessions are for those students who having spoken to their personal tutor, are still left feeling as though they are experiencing problems that they feel unable to deal with themselves. Talking to a counsellor can enable you to really identify your problems and their origins and may help you to develop effective means for dealing with them.

Counselling sessions are, of course, completely confidential and information will only be shared with third parties with your permission. To arrange an appointment contact Ms Jacyntha Etienne on 020 7679 1487 or visit room 101, on the first floor of 3 Taviton Street. Find more details on their website.

The Students’ Union is run by students for students. As well as providing the focus of student social life in the College, the UCL Union offers a wide range of services and can provide guidance and practical assistance. UCL Union is located at 25 Gordon Street, tel: 020 7679 2500. It may be that your problem relates to more practical problems concerning your rights. If you need advice on issues relating to housing, immigration, academic appeals and so on, you can talk to UCL Union Rights and Advice Centre located on the first floor of the Bloomsbury Building at 15 Gordon Street. The Centre has legally trained advisers and a range of useful information in hard form and online, tel: 020 7679 2533/2507. At SSEES you have your own site Executive and this includes a student Welfare Officer. The SSEES Student Union office is Room 533.

UCL makes special provision for the welfare of women who may be experiencing problems specific to women. The college’s Advisers to Women Students, Dr Dorothy Einon and Dr Hilary Richards, are particularly concerned with female welfare issues and are available to advise any time. Call 020 7679 5385 (Dr Einon) or 020 7679 2934 (Dr Richards) for an individual consultation.

Finally, UCL students themselves provide a support service in the form of UCL Union Nightline, which provides advice and/or just a person to talk to between 6pm and 8am. Nightline is located at ULU, Malet Street. You can call them on 020 7631 0101 or e-mail them on listening@london-nightline.org.uk.

Disability Services

If you have any kind of disability there will be support available. The UCL Disability Centre is open Monday-Friday, 10am – 4pm, and during term time and you can access advice on all available support there. The centre is located in Room G16, South Junction in the Main Building. You can call them on 020 7679 2779 or e-mail them on disability@ucl.ac.uk and you can find out more on their website.

A UCL Disability Co-ordinator is available to provide advice and practical support in the following ways:

- Assessments of support need, including diagnostic assessments for students with dyslexia.

- Assistance to students with disabilities in applying for grants from LEAs and Trusts.

- Up-to-date advice on special equipment that may be required by members of staff and students with disabilities.

- Organising note-taking/interpreter/reader support.

- Providing information on access to all UCL teaching space.

- Administering the Hardship Fund for students with disabilities (EU and overseas students only).

A UCL IT trainer will provide advice on equipment purchase, set-up and installation of computer systems in students’ homes, and some initial training.

Special examination arrangements can be made for students with disabilities who need to take their examinations in a separate room designed for this purpose, or to use special equipment or other facilities. Please note that students with dyslexia who require additional examination time should contact the SSEES Examinations Liaison Officer as soon as possible. Copies of the UCL booklet Information for Students with Disabilities and the Disability Statement are available on request from the UCL Academic Services Office.

The UCL Dyslexia Assessment and Support Centre is located in the Department of Human Communication Science in Chandler House, where you will find Claire Jamieson (Dyslexia Co-ordinator) and Cristina Gardini (Administrator). If you are dyslexic or concerned that you might be, email Cristina at c.gardini@ucl.ac.uk. This is potentially very important as, if you are a student with dyslexia (or other disabilities), you might be eligible to receive vital examination support in the form of special equipment, specific locations and/or additional time for the examinations. Cristina Gardini will arrange an appointment to establish your assessment needs. You can find out more by visiting the website.

Student Grievances

In exceptional circumstance students, rightly or wrongly, perceive that they have been unfairly treated. Examples include students who feel they have been harassed on sexual, racial or religious grounds or students who feel their assessment was not handled correctly or that their teaching was sub-standard in some way.

In the unfortunate event that you feel that you have been treated unfairly – either by a member of staff or by another student – you should do the following. In the first instance, if possible, try to raise your concern with the member of staff or student. If this is not possible or does not resolve your concern, contact the Departmental Equal Opportunities Liaison Officer, Dr Sean Hanley (s.hanley@ssees.ucl.ac.uk).

Other Useful Contacts at SSEES

The full SSEES staff room and telephone directory is available here.

Director Dr Robin Aizlewood, room 408

PA to Director: Christine Fernandes: 020 7679 8751

Track Tutor for Economics & Business: Dr Eugene Nivorozhkin: 020 7679 8811

e.nivorozhkin@ucl.ac.uk, room 509.

Track Tutor for Politics and Security: Dr Richard Mole: 020 7679 8809

r.mole@ucl.ac.uk, room 508.

Track Tutor for Nation, History & Society: Professor Simon Dixon: 020 7679 8815

s.dixon@ssees.ucl.ac.uk, room 513.

SSEES Library Enquiries: 020 7679 8702

Renewals: 020 7679 8701 ssees-library@ssees.ucl.ac.uk