Services and Support at Kingston University

Hi all,

When choosing a university, it is important to consider the support and services that the university provides. Most will spend at least three years at university and its important to have the right support around you when you need it. Plus it is part of what you are paying for so you might as well make the most of the services.

Kingston has lots of services and places to go for support so I thought I would share a few of them with you. The best place to find the services once you start at Kingston is either in person at the Information Centre help desks located in the library at each campus or online via the My Kingston portal.

Study Support

Academic Success Centre - This team offers advice on academic writing and study strategies, and there is a team for each faculty to make the support is more tailored and subject specific. There are drop-in sessions across the four campuses and some faculties offer appointments you can book or services online where you can upload your essays to receive formative feedback.

iCat – This is an online service, that I have relied on many times, where you can search for academic resources like books, articles, journals, and documentaries to use as research in your essays. Usually there are online versions that you can use, if not the service makes it easy for you to see which library it will be available in, how many are available, how many are on loan and whereabouts to find it on the shelves.

Personal Tutor scheme – every student is allocated a personal tutor to help ensure that you make progress with your studies. You will usually have a scheduled meeting with them, but can also contact them for any help you may need, for example with assignments, questions about the course, guidance or support. They are usually a lecturer on your course, so will have lots of course insight and understanding to offer.

It Essentials

Computer and Software offers – students at Kingston have a range of software they can access such as free Microsoft software. There are also savings offers for students at the Apple Store and EDU store. And at the Kingston libraries you can loan laptops and use the PC’s and Macs in the libraries.

Student Life

The careers and employability service – Within this service there are both opportunities for help online or in person. In person there is the career centre which is located on at Penrhyn Road Campus, this is open Monday to Friday. Here you can get support with a range of things like writing a CV and cover letter, job search, interview preparation and specialist career advice. And there is also drop ins at each campus. There is also online facilities to help, I have personally used the service where you can upload your CV and get feedback and found this really helped me elevate my CV.

Accommodation – The accommodation team at Kingston helps with the Halls of Residence, the KU Student Homes Lettings service and information on living in the local community.

Money – There are lots of online services to help with your money queries and you can book an appointment with a money advisor at Kingston.

Health and Wellbeing

Counselling and wellbeing – there are a range of services available such as drop-in sessions, listening sessions, stress/time management sessions, an online student social group and counselling. You can access most sessions either online or face to face. With a range of options to choose from it easier to find something that will suit your needs and the team will also help with finding alternative options if they don’t offer what you are looking for.

Feel free to ask any questions :smile: