MAP Academic Advisors
Every student’s academic journey is different. For some students who have a disability, an illness, a mental health issue or a specific learning difficulty there may be an academic impact where you feel less in control of your academic work or feel that you are not performing to your academic ability.
The academic issues that might arise can include having difficulties accessing the curriculum perhaps because you have not been able to attend classes all the time, or you may feel that where before you were doing really well that now you are slipping behind.
- You may be concerned that your lecturers do not know that you have a disability or learning difficulty, or you may feel that some of the supports that were recommended by the Disability Office are not being provided.
- You may feel that you are finding it harder to get assignments in on time and just want to talk to somebody about how to address this issue.
- You may have concerns about how your examination supports are being provided for in course assessments.
- You may feel that because of your reading or writing difficulties, that taking good notes in lectures is a real problem and that it is making it harder for you to keep up with the course content.
- You may feel that because of issues with concentration, time management and organisation, or just retaining information that there may be a module where you are just finding it harder to keep up or fear that you will not do as well in examinations as you had hoped.
Many students will only experience difficulties at particular times during their academic journey and therefore may only require short term or very specific supports. For some students however these issues can become overwhelming and can threaten not only their academic participation but perhaps students may even feel like leaving their course. In order to ensure that students are supported as effectively as possible all academic departments have appointed a lecturer as a MAP Academic Advisor.
MAP Academic Advisors are available to work individually within their subject areas to support MAP students with academic and subject-specific issues/difficulties as needed. They can offer academic guidance and support with course related academic issues or concerns. They can also ensure that you don’t need to necessarily talk with all of your lecturers about the issue as they can offer a coordinated point of access and support. Sometimes they will have to refer you to other supports within the University or even back to the Disability Office for further support. Sometimes the academic issue can be easily resolved within the department. The important thing is that you know that there is an academic contact within each Department who can offer you academic guidance and support when you need it.
You can find out more additional information and the current list of MAP Academic Advisors.