Your funding body will usually ask you to have a needs assessment at an approved centre to make recommendations for your DSA. They need information about the support available at Oxford Brookes. Some of this information is available on the National Network of Assessment Centres.
Does the University have any networked assistive software that students can use?
Inspiration 9, Claro Read, TextHelp Read and Write Gold 11 are available on all networked PCs for use by students on campus. Dragon v15, Sonocent AudioNote, Mindview and SuperNova v16 are also available to students with a particular need in the Assistive Technology Suite.
Are there any grants/bursaries that are provided by the University to support students?
Enrolled students who have been asked by their DSA funding body to pay £200 towards a computer can apply for a reimbursement of this amount. For the academic year 2023/24, students on eligible courses whose family income has been means-tested by the Student Loans Company for undergraduate funding as below £35,000 can apply for this via the Inclusive Support Service.
Do you provide study skills/mentoring support and is this delivered by qualified personnel?
Yes. For more information, please refer to our website:
- Specialist Mentoring
- Specialist 1-1 Study Skills Tutors
- Non-medical helper rates
Can students access other types of non-medical helpers, such as practical support assistants or library assistants?
Where there is an assessed need students are supported by Academic Support Workers and Library Assistants. These can be arranged with support from the non-medical help support (NMHS) scheme.
How do students access an alternative format?
There is a dedicated web page for information about accessing digital resources
What assistance do you offer for students who have a difficulty with note taking associated with their disability or specific learning difficulty?
With our new digital classroom technologies, including Zoom for online meetings and the Panopto video library for storage, staff have the ability to record their lectures and post them online. This provision is available across the University for all members of staff. However, not all sessions are required to be recorded therefore personal recording devices should also be considered.
Are students provided with Microsoft Office?
Enrolled Brookes students can have Microsoft Office 365 for free for the duration of the course. This includes access to the full Office suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Onenote, etc) for up to five different PCs, five tablets including iPad, Android or Windows, plus five phones. Also included is 1TB of cloud storage.
To take advantage of this offer, please visit this Microsoft website. Students need to select the "Students" tab and enter their Brookes email address. This will trigger an email to the Brookes address asking for verification.
If you would like to know more about this offer, please contact the IT Service Desk.
Do you provide specialist 1-1 study skills support in Swindon?
We can provide 1-1 study skills support to students based at the Swindon Campus through our in-house provision. This may be via remote support
What about the recommendations for the University in the needs assessment report?
Recommendations for Higher Education institutions made in needs assessment reports are provided for guidance. Each university has their own policies and procedures and makes the final decision about reasonable adjustments. If a student has a query about the recommendations made or would like to discuss an addition or change to their Inclusive Support Plan, we would ask them to contact us.
Can a student have extensions to coursework deadlines because they have a specific learning difficulty?
Any student who has an Inclusive Support Plan (ISP) for specific learning difficulties such as dyslexia can have an extension of up to one week for coursework (deadline assessments). This will be applied to individual coursework assignments. There are some exceptions where the extension cannot be applied, for example event assessments (exams or timed tests).
If you are unsure if it is applicable to a particular piece of work, please refer to the the module handbook or check with the module leader or another relevant course tutor.