Mature students

Oxford Brookes has a range of services and specialists that can help with many issues that you may encounter during your course of study irrespective of the level of course that you are doing, eg Undergraduate or Postgraduate, or mode of study, eg full time, part time, associate. Examples include:

• Academic advice: you will be allocated an Academic Adviser and will also be able to talk to Module Leaders and/or your Student Support Co-ordinator
• Accommodation Bureau: enable Brookes students to access University accommodation
• Brookes Union: run by students for students – a member-led organisation that supports more than 60 societies at Brookes. They will help if you wish to set up and run your own society, recruit course reps and help you let your voice be heard.
• Brookes Union Advice Service: advice and guidance on a range of issues – finance matters, legal matters and welfare issue
• Careers: a range of information and advice on matters relating to finding a job, interview advice, careers information, events and workshops, volunteering
• Counselling: individual counselling, group work or workshops for students and information on self-help or if you’re worried about somebody else
• Disability students and dyslexia/SpLD students: specialist support and advice from our Inclusive Support Service
• Student Central: comprises of a range of support and advice teams base in the Forum of the John Henry Brookes building. Their Advice Team deal with a variety or queries relating to your academic programme, finance, course/programme related issues, council tax and attendance letters, Financial Support and will find the appropriate specialist member of staff if they are unable to deal with your query directly.
• Student Support Co-ordinators: each Faculty has several Student Support Co-ordinators(SSC) whose role is to provide an academic and personal support framework for students in their Faculty. You will meet your SSC during Induction and Enrolment or even during the summer in some cases. Their contact details can be found on the New Student site and Faculty sites prior to online enrolment, and then on your Student Information pages once you have fully enrolled.
• Centre for Academic Development: advise on Academic English, statistics or maths, planning and writing essays, assignments and dissertations

A comprehensive list of services and sources of advice can be found in our A-Z of Services.

For information about fees and funding, please see our Student Finance pages. Here you can find information about the Tuition Fee Loan, the Oxford Brookes Bursary Scheme, the Maintenance Loan and Maintenance Grant. If you are currently in receipt of benefits and/or child tax credits, you may find it useful to contact the Brookes Union Advice Service on suadvice@brookes.ac.uk or +44 (0) 1865 484770 for information about how becoming a student affects those allowances.

If you have a disability or you are dyslexic or have a specific learning difficulty, you may be entitled to apply for Disabled Students Allowance (DSA)

During your studies at Oxford Brookes, there may be occasions when you need a little financial assistance because of unforeseen circumstances or emergencies. For further information, visit our Financial Aid website.

Time management does take a little effort and studying will require all your previously learned organisational skills. Take a look at the self-help guide on managing time for a little help and advice.

During induction and enrolment week, you will find out about what IT systems the University uses and how you can access everything you need to study on your course both at Brookes and remotely from home. This will include Google Mail which is what Brookes uses to communicate with all students and staff and Google calendar where you will find your teaching timetable.

After you have completed enrolment and have your Student Information password, you will also be able to access your Student Information pages and see which modules you are studying and your exams timetable and records. Part-time and Associate students have the same access to these resources as everyone else.

Each campus has an IT service desk that can help you with any queries you might have about IT support at Brookes.

Oxford Brookes University nursery has places for children aged 4 months to 5 years and provides childcare for the children of staff and students.

If you are regularly unable to attend your timetabled lecture or seminar because of care commitments, it may be possible to change the time of that lecture or seminar if there are alternative timings available for that particular module. To find out if the module lecture or seminar is running at a different time, you can check with the Module Leader and/or click on the module number on your Student Information which will bring up the module details including all the timings. If a change is possible, you will need to complete a timetabling request form which you can access from the Student Request Forms page and send to the Timetabling and Room Bookings Team.

Parking at Brookes is very limited and a parking permit does not guarantee that a parking space will be available.

If you are living in a Hall of Residence, you should not bring a vehicle with you to Oxford. If you are a teaching student or if you have a disability or if there are special circumstances on the basis of ill health or caring responsibilities, it may be possible for you to apply for a permit.

Further information is available on the Student Car Parking page.

You will be allocated an Academic Adviser once you enrol at Brookes. They form a part of the network of support explicitly focused on academic support along with other Faculty members such as Module Leaders, Programme Leads or Student Support Co-ordinators. You will receive a programme handbook that has information on support and guidance for you during your studies which should enable you and others to identify the best source of advice for your particular need.

If English is not your first language, there is Academic English support available for undergraduate and postgraduate students offered by the academic English specialists in the Centre for Academic Development. The advice that the Centre for Academic Development can give will help you throughout your course of study. See the Academic English support page for more information.

The Centre for Academic Development offer study skills advice and their web pages offer a wealth of information on study skills (see their A-Z of online study resources).

Whatever your level of study, our Libraries are a great source of information on your subject. Subject teams are available to help you access the materials you need from a huge range of information and materials to help you make the most of your studies.

You will receive regular feedback from your Module Leaders, especially on any assessed work, which will give you a clear indication of the standard you are achieving and areas that you may need to work on. However, if you have difficulty trying to work out what you should be doing, you may find a discussion with the Centre for Academic Development helpful.