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Specialist study support

Find out about the specialist support you might be able to access to help with a disability.

If you need to access specialist study support, we can advise you. Types of specialist study support can include:

How to access specialist study support

Disabled Students' Allowance funding 

If you are eligible to apply for a Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA), this may be able to help fund your specialist study support.

To check if your DSA can pay for your specialist support, sign up to one of our DSA workshops.

Speak to our Disability team

If you cannot access funding from the DSA, or you require support which DSA does not cover (such as an exam support worker), speak to our Disability team to discuss your options.

Booking a room to meet your specialist study support worker

Use the find a room service to book a room to meet your support worker or diagnostic assessor. It displays a list of teaching spaces by building, and their current booking status over the next 3 hours. 

Other spaces and facilities across campus are available to help you study, including library study spaces, blended learning spaces, or open access computers.

Types of specialist study support:

Specialist mentors

Mentors provide confidential practical and emotional support in response to a broad range of wellbeing-related issues. Examples include (but are not limited to) stress, anxiety, depression and low motivation/morale. Mentors offer support by empowering you to develop strategies to manage your wellbeing and meet your academic goals. They can help you with:

  • Time management and workload prioritisation
  • Goal setting and concentration
  • Developing a work-life balance
  • Liaising with university departments
  • Identifying appropriate assistive technology

Mentors can only support you during agreed sessions, and they cannot provide counselling or therapy, but they may signpost you to organisations that can.

Study skills tutor

This is confidential support with your academic studies. Study skills tutors can support you to develop independent learning, including helping with understanding assignment briefs, developing effective research techniques, structuring academic writing, and preparing for exams. They can help you with:

  • Spelling, punctuation and grammar
  • Developing academic writing
  • Structuring and presenting ideas
  • Research strategies
  • Organisation, motivation and time management
  • Revision tips and memory skills
  • Identifying appropriate assistive technologies

A study skills tutor cannot offer subject-specific tuition, assign additional work, or proofread your work, and they can only support you during agreed sessions.

Exam Support Workers: Readers, Scribes, Prompters

Exam Support workers are guided by you. You may choose to use their support extensively, or only a little. They cannot make suggestions or proofread your work for you. Your work must still be your own.

Practical support assistant

This is manual, practical and mobility support to assist you with manoeuvring between and around key study venues. This may include carrying books or equipment, acting as a sighted guide or providing wheelchair assistance. You might use practical support in the library, in a laboratory or workshop, or on a field trip.

Library support assistant

This is assistance in searching library catalogues and electronic resources under your direction. Library Support Assistants can help you to locate, retrieve and carry academic library materials. This support also includes help with scanning and photocopying library resources, and help locating study areas.

Workshop/laboratory assistant

This support is to provide you with any support and practical assistance you may need to complete required assignments in your workshops and/or laboratory work.

Manual notetaking

Manual notetakers produce a manual, accurate and comprehensive set of notes from your lectures (and on occasion seminars and one-off university sessions). The notes can be provided in a handwritten format or typed and emailed to you in your style and format preference.

Electronic notetaking

This is speech-to-text specialist communication support provided by a qualified electronic note-taker. A live, real-time summary of what is being said is typed by the notetaker in your lectures, seminars or one-off university sessions. The notetaker will link these notes to a second screen for you to read them from live. After the session these notes are sent to you in your style and format preference.

Study assistant

Study Assistants can fulfil a variety of roles where support is required for consecutive and irregular periods of time. This includes assisting you in finding appropriate solutions for queries and problems to help reduce anxiety levels, manual notetaking, library assistance, practical assistance, as well as orientation support around campus.

Other specialist support options

There is other one-to-one funded specialist support available, for example specialist transcription services, and sign language interpreting. Contact us to discuss your needs.

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