Personal Academic Tutor

lecturer helping student in front of laptop

Before you arrive, you will be allocated a Personal Academic Tutor (PAT) who will be a member of staff in your Division. Your PAT will provide you with academic advice and guidance, will be your formal attendance contact, and will monitor your academic progress for the duration of your course. 

Details of who your PAT is can be found on the University App and on Moodle. Please note, you must have completed online enrolment in order to access Moodle.

Please note: for some postgraduate students in the Business School, the process for contacting and meeting with your PAT may be different. You will receive information about this via your email directly from the Business School.

Role of the PAT

PATs provide their students with:

  • At least three meetings during each academic year to discuss academic progress.
  • Subject-specific academic advice and guidance throughout your course.
  • Direct or refer students who are experiencing any issues to appropriate sources of specialist support within or beyond the University community.
  • Engage with the electronic attendance monitoring records of individual students.
  • Contact and arrange meetings to support students who are not attending taught sessions regularly for any reason.
  • Maintain a general overview of each PAT student's academic progress.
  • Provide a final reference for PAT students upon completion of their course.

PAT Meetings

For most students, your first meeting with your PAT will take place on the Monday of Welcome Week. It is important that you attend this initial meeting so that you can meet your PAT and establish clear lines of communication for the future. Your PAT will also advise you of the times in the week that they are normally available to meet you and how to arrange appointments.

Although the PAT role is primarily concerned with academic progress, you can ask your PAT to signpost you to the appropriate service for non-academic matters. For example, a team within Student Services for any personal issues impacting upon your ability to attend taught sessions, study effectively, or perform to the best of your ability.

Changing your PAT 

If students change courses or move towards specific disciplines that are not within their PAT's area of expertise (particularly in the second and third years), then you can request to change PAT. If you wish to change your PAT, you should first contact your current PAT or your Course Leader to discuss the reasons for the change and complete a form to formally request this.