Centre for Academic Support and Employability

The Centre for Academic Support and Employability (CASE) provides help for students at all levels in the Faculty of Arts and Social Science with their studies in the following areas:

• Researching and presenting
• Structuring and editing traditional academic writing
• Structuring and editing multimedia texts
• Referencing

Specialist workshops including activities for career development and employability are offered each semester.

All students within the Faculty are encouraged to get as much help as possible with their academic work from CASE. Results show that students who use the centre are significantly more likely to complete their degree. As they are better equipped to act on feedback, they also tend to do better in their studies.

The Centre aims to cultivate critical thinking, awareness of presentation and organisational skills and, perhaps most importantly, to nurture students' oral confidence.

"Since January, I have noticed a drastic improvement in the written and oral communication skills of those students who attend drop-ins and workshops regularly.

"I have witnessed first-hand the benefits of peer mentoring. At a recent event for postgraduate students, I was involved in an interaction with a mature student who was struggling to construct an answer to an essay question which confronted him. From the training I received during my CASE induction, I was able to use a 'swimming pool' analogy to assist learning (the introduction being the diving board, the content the water and the conclusion being the steps out of the pool). This technique helped me to express a technical message through simple means. It was not long before the penny dropped. At the end , the student's departing remark rang in my ears, 'it makes such a difference when someone else reads it'."

Simon Lambe, CASE advisor and FASS peer mentor of the year (2008/09)

Employability skills

The Faculty has a specialist Employability Coordinator who works in partnership with CASE to ensure that students are able to identify and develop employability skills. Studying non-vocational subjects can make it hard to narrow down a clear direction so she can also help to identify strengths, areas for development and potential career opportunities. Throughout the academic year the following activities will take place:

• Workshops and seminars covering all aspects of the recruitment process, from CV's to interviews
• Employer events; giving students a chance to network and gain a stronger understanding of the 'world of work'
• Drop-in appointments; for queries regarding career direction or any aspects of employability

Peer-assisted learning

CASE is staffed by a team of selected and trained student undergraduates, postgraduates and academic tutors.

As one student, speaking of her advice session in CASE said, "You know that they are not going to judge you, they have been there themselves and can explain in a way that you will understand."