Student Support
North East Scotland College is an inclusive and diverse College, and we offer learning support and advice to all students.
How NESCol supports you
Academic Tutors
Each full-time student is allocated an academic tutor for the session. This member of curriculum staff will have dedicated time for academic support with your class group each week.
Your academic tutor is your first point of contact for academic, personal and social support. The academic tutor may be able to deal with many of your queries or may refer you for specialist assistance to the Student Advice and Support Team.
Your academic tutor will also monitor your attendance and progress on the course. It is important that you inform your academic tutor any time you miss classes — the absence procedure will be explained to you at the start of session.
Student Advice and Support Team
We offer a wide range of learning support to students who have additional learning requirements, including physical or sensory impairments; specific learning difficulties e.g. dyslexia; autistic spectrum; physical/medical/mental health conditions; being a carer; being care experienced, etc.
Needs assessments
Our Student Advice and Support Team work alongside College staff to promote inclusive practice, with a strong focus on offering learning support needs assessments to students who may require additional learning support and arranging alternative assessment arrangements where required. We also help to complete needs assessments for students who are studying on community programmes.
Preparing for your needs assessment factsheet
The level of support provided will vary according to the individual needs of the student. This support is administered by experienced staff, and may be provided on a one-to-one basis or in small groups. The types of support on offer include:
Wellbeing Support
At NESCol we are committed to supporting student’s mental health and wellbeing. Wellbeing Appointments are available to book with the Student Advice and Support Team who can provide impartial and confidential information and advice on mental health and wellbeing. During appointments, the team will work with students to find the most appropriate strategy to help them sustain positive wellbeing. This might include referral to counselling, appointments with a Student Support Tutor or with a Student Wellbeing Advisor or signposting to external services.
Key Skills and Study Skills Support
We can provide one-to-one and group support to students, and can help with key skills such as communication, numeracy and IT and study skills including:
- Essay and report writing
- Research skills
- Proof reading
- Presentation skills
- Time management
- Organisation and planning
- Revision skills and assessment techniques
- Demonstrations of basic assistive software e.g. text-to-speech, mind-mapping and voice recognition
Targeted In-Class Support
We can also provide a range of targeted support to students in the classroom environment including:
- Additional key skills support
- Supporting students in making notes/research
- Clarifying/reinforcing lecturer explanations and instructions
- Supporting the reading/understanding of complex text/instructions
- Supporting practical work, reinforcing any health and safety requirements
- Helping students keep focused on their tasks
Resources to support you at NESCol
As well as support services that directly involve your learning experience at NESCol, a range of other resources are available to help support you whilst at NESCol.
Spectrum Life
NESCol is proud to partner with Spectrum Life. The platform and mobile app offer access to everything from fitness plans, recipes, and eLearning content related to remote working, sleep and mental health to confidential advice and support.
Care Experienced students
We work closely with students who identify as care experienced to ensure that their College journey is a positive and successful one. We also work with a number of external agencies to support and signpost students to the support services available to them.
Our commitment to you as a Care Experienced student
Estranged students
NESCol has signed the Stand Alone Pledge which underlines our support to students who are estranged from their families and who are studying at the College without the support and approval of a family network.
Student carers
NESCol has also signed a Student Carers Statement of Intent. The pledge underlines our determination to ensure the specific challenges that student carers face are acknowledged and acted upon through bespoke support.
Contact us
If you feel that you may require additional support we encourage you to contact us at an early stage so we can consider how best to meet your needs. Initial enquiries can be made by calling 01224 612091, dropping into your local Student Advice Centre, or by emailing studentsupport@nescol.ac.uk.
