Students would recommend Student Life Centre
Nearly all – 93% - of Sussex students who used the Student Life Centre (SLC) this academic year would recommend it to a friend, according to new survey results.
The respondents to the SLC’s student questionnaire for 2013-14 also agreed that it was easy to access the centre, which is based in the Chichester building and provides a range of services face-to-face, online, by email and over the phone. 94% agreed that access routes to services were effective.
The SLC has run a questionnaire ever since it was set up in 2010 to provide a one-stop shop offering information and advice to Sussex students.
The survey results also showed high satisfaction with a number of other areas of the SLC’s work:
- 90% found the staff friendly and helpful
- 86% agreed that staff made an effort to understand and support them
- 84% found the SLC useful in managing the difficulties they were having
- 86% said that the SLC directed them to appropriate and relevant sources of information
The SLC has already had more than 15,000 contacts with Sussex students this academic year – nearly twice as many as the whole of the 2010-11 academic year, which was the year that the SLC was created.
To access more statistics and read a summary report of the latest survey, visit the SLC’s website.
Over the four years it has been running, the survey has been used by SLC staff to make improvements to the services they offer to Sussex students.
For example, they have provided training to help staff provide an understanding and supportive service that anticipates a wide range of student need, created stronger and more effective cross-working and referral routes with other University departments and units, and improved signage.
This year, in response to the survey, specialist staff training is planned to improve the team’s knowledge of how to assist students with money matters and also to ensure that all in-depth work with students is conducted away from the counter reception so that staff are always able to respond promptly when students arrive for appointments.
The SLC offers information and advice to all Sussex students on many issues, including:
- Personal concerns affecting study progress or well-being
- Funding and finance, including scholarships, bursaries and hardship funds
- Sources of help to improve academic performance – identifying obstacles to learning
- Understanding University systems and regulations in relation to assessment, services, complaints, conduct and discipline
- Progression, intermission and withdrawal processes - discussion and support
- Referrals to other professional services on campus
The Head of the Centre, Rachel Gould, said: “Thank you to the students who completed the survey, the staff who have helped with the evaluation and the whole team for working so hard to deliver a quality service.”