Student handbook

Welcome to the online handbook for all students. This will be your go-to reference guide throughout your time in the School. We encourage you to familiarise yourself with this resource; information is arranged alphabetically within broad categories. If you can't find the information you need, contact the School Office. Our team will be happy to help.

Advice & support

Academic Advising

Academic Advising is an integral part of teaching and learning at Sussex. An Academic Advisor’s role is to support students’ academic progress and offer guidance or referral to appropriate specialist professional services as necessary. Students will meet their Academic Advisors regularly throughout their time at Sussex, either in person or via Microsoft Teams. Find details of your Academic Advisor on your Sussex Direct study pages. Visit the Student Experience and Advice (Eng/Inf) Canvas page for more information

Referencing & academic integrity

All students should familiarise themselves with the information about referencing styles and academic integrity on the Skills Hub.

This subject is also covered in Academic Advising session no. 2 and in the following modules:

H1041 Professional & Managerial Skills and G5120 Professional Skills

Lecturers will indicate during lectures, the referencing style that is recommended for each coursework assignment. Information will also be disseminated where appropriate on module Canvas sites.

Report writing guides

Engineering students should make full use of the following resources:

Guide to Laboratory Writing

Guide to Technical Report Writing

School Office

The School Office is in Chichester 1 room C1002.

For general enquiries email ei@sussex.ac.uk or phone 01273 (67) 8195

Our reception is open Monday to Friday 09.00 to 15.00, phone lines are open 09.00 to 17.00

School Office location [PDF 1.74MB]

See also People and contacts for our School inboxes and staff details.

Skills hub

The University of Sussex Skills Hub will help you to develop the skills which are essential for academic study. Here you will find a wide range of resources, including expert advice and suggestions from successful Sussex students. See also the Study skills and resources section on the Student Hub.

Student experience (Reps/Mentors/Societies)

Student Experience Canvas Page

All information about Student Experience can be found on the Student Experience Canvas page.You can auto-enrol with this link.

Student Experience Team

The school has dedicated staff working towards making your experience the best it can be. Find out who they are and how they can help you here. You can contact the Student Experience Team about any of the topics in this section on enginf-studentexperience@sussex.ac.uk.

Student Mentors

Engineering and Design Mentors

Peer Assisted Learning (Informatics)

If you cannot access these pages, please try to auto-enrol with this link (Engineering and Design) or this link (Informatics). Please contact us on enginf-studentexperience@sussex.ac.uk if the issue persists.

Student Reps

Student Reps are responsible for representing the academic interest of students on their course/department within the schools, gathering student feedback and presenting them to schools in order to bring about positive and meaningful change.Student reps are the bridge between students and University staff. They work to represent your voice in decision making about academic issues, bringing the needs of students to the table.

Find out about reps in the school.

Find out more about the Student Rep Scheme, inlcuding what reps do, how to become a rep, and how to find your rep, on the Student's Union Website.

Socities

Learn about the Student Socieities active within the school on our canvas page. Find a list of all Student Societies on the Student's Union website.

Support for students (University level services)

My Sussex

To access student services please visit My Sussex for any support needs

International student support

See the International students section on the Student Hub

Student Centre

The Student Centre in the heart of Campus is the go-to place for you to access in-person information, advice and guidance services

Student Hub

Go to the Student Hub pages on the website for the latest information, news and events

Disability Advice

The Disability Advice service is a team of specialist Disability Advisors and administrators. We provide confidential information and advice to current and future students on disability-related study support and accessing disability-related funding.

Students' Union

The Students' Union advice team provides advice on University-related issues and housing for every Sussex student. If it’s not an area we cover then we can point you in the right direction to get help.

Assessment & teaching

Accreditation

Accreditation of Engineering courses

Accreditation of Informatics courses

Additional requirements for accreditation - Engineering & Product Design students

Engineering and Product Design students should note the additional assessment regulations that govern their degrees. See Threshold marking, award of compensated credit and condoned credit

Please read the information carefully and contact Catherine Warden if you need clarification: c.l.warden@sussex.ac.uk

Assessment regulations

Go to 'Your degree explained' on the Student Hub for an overview. The Examination and Assessment Regulations handbook provides in-depth information. Engineering and Product Design students should note the additional regulations below. If you need any clarification on these regulations, please contact Jackie Gains (Informatics) j.gains@sussex.ac.uk or Catherine Warden (Engineering & Product Design) c.l.warden@sussex.ac.uk

Attendance

Attendance at your taught sessions is compulsory and your attendance is monitored by the School attendance monitoring team. We expect all our students to attend at least 80% of their timetabled teaching sessions. For online delivery of teaching, your engagement with online materials will be monitored as proof of attendance.

These sessions include lectures, laboratory sessions, workshops and seminars held in person where a register is taken, or equivalent online sessions. If you are unable to attend a session, you should let the tutor for the session know in advance, if possible. They can then mark your absence as 'notified'.

If you are unable to attend teaching for 6 or more days, you should send an email to enginf-attendance@sussex.ac.uk to explain, giving details of your absence and your expected return date.

Any repeated or unexplained absences will be noted and you may be required to attend a meeting of the School Student Progress Committee, who may then recommend that you withdraw from the University, either temporarily or permanently.

For further detail, please see the Attendance, Engagement and Absence policy.

Coursework submission support

Coursework submission support

Course transfer

Course transfer guidelines for transferring to a degree in the School of Engineering & Informatics.

Exam information & support

The majority of exams for Engineering modules will be in person for 2023-24. See the full list here. Note that the retake exam in August will also be in person.

Computer-based exams: guidance & support

Multiple choice questions: guidance & support

Exceptional circumstances

You can make an exceptional circumstances claim if you experience something sudden, temporary and unforeseen, which could have an impact on one of your assessments, exams or coursework.

Outcomes of upheld exceptional circumstances claims are:

Type of exceptional circumstances claim	Outcome (if your claim is accepted)
Late submission. You must submit your work before the final deadline.	Late penalty will be waived. Your submission will show as late but with X7L or X24 on Sussex Direct.
Excused non-submission of an assignment (XNS) . You will not be able to submit your original work.	An opportunity to retrieve the mark by taking a new assessment in August. Details will be published on your assessment timetable after the end of year exam board has met.
Excused absence from exam, either in-person or online (XAB)	A further uncapped attempt in August.
Impairment for a coursework assessment	An opportunity to retrieve or improve the mark by taking a new assessment in August. Details will be published on your assessment timetable after the end of year exam board has met.
Impairment in an exam, either in-person or online	A further uncapped attempt in August

Important: The mark you get for a resit or sit assessment will be used for progression and/or award purposes, even if it’s lower than your original mark. If you don’t take the resit or sit, your original mark will stand. See: Resitting an assessment

Global Design Challenge

Global Design Challenge (GDC) is a unique, core module for all first year students in the School of Engineering and Informatics at Sussex. You will work on solutions to real-world design problems, take part in interdisciplinary teams and increase your international perspective. It takes place during intersession week before the Spring term. Although it is a non credit-bearing module, it is a compulsory requirement of all Informatics and Engineering UG courses. If you do not pass the module, you will be required to retake it in the summer assessment period.

Module options

Many of our courses have optional modules. See degree courses and modules for information. Your Academic Advisor can help if you are unsure which optional modules are best for you.

Selection is done on Sussex Direct via the 'Syllabus' tab.

Postgraduate students and direct entry to second year students will choose in September at the start of the academic year
All other undergraduate students will choose in March of the previous academic year

It will be announced when the online selection system is live. If you have any issues accessing system, or you need to change options chosen online, contact the Department Coordinator. Note: the deadline for changing optional modules once teaching has started, is the end of week two of each term.

For Informatics, contact Jackie Gains: j.gains@sussex.ac.uk

For Engineering, contact Tinne Pedersen: t.pedersen@sussex.ac.uk

Results information (what happens if I fail a module?)

Go to: Getting your results on the Student Hub for general information.

If you fail any or all of your modules, you will be offered retakes in the summer assessment period. See term dates

If you fail a semester 1 module, you must wait until after the exam board has met in June, (July for PGT students), before your assessment timetable can be updated. This is because we need your full year's module marks before any retakes can be scheduled. Contact your Departmental Coordinator if you have any questions about your results. Engineering: Catherine Warden c.l.warden@sussex.ac.uk Informatics: Jackie Gains j.gains@sussex.ac.uk

Term dates

See Term dates and minimum service days

Timetable & teaching groups

Go to your study pages in Sussex Direct to view your timetable. Note that each week may be different as some activites such as labs, practicals and seminars will not run every week, and some sessions will start later in the term.

Requests to change teaching groups will be dealt with on an individual basis. Some groups may be full due to differing room capacities. Contact your departmental coordinator, Jackie Gains, Informatics j.gains@sussex.ac.uk or Louisa Clusky, Engineering lc858@sussex.ac.uk

Zheijiang Gongshang examination & assessment regulations

ZJSU-Sussex AI Institute UG Examination and Assessment Regulations [PDF 52.38MB]

Careers & placements

Careers & Entrepreneurship

Careers and Entrepreneurship has lots of resources to help you. Login to Career Hub to access jobs, events and appointments. Use their sector guides to find out more about career areas that interest you and how to gain the experience you need.

Placements

Find out about placements and how this could benefit you. You can register your interest for a placement and join the Placements Preparation Programme.

All new students in the School are automatically enrolled on our Canvas sites:

Each department organises events with external speakers from placement providers. The School holds an annual Placement Poster event where students returning from placement display their work and are available to chat about their experiences.

Our UG placment tutors are Dr Dmitrijs Dmitrenko (Informatics) and Dr Menguc Oner (Engineering)

Transferring on or off the placement version of your course: Please email your request to the School Office: ei@sussex.ac.uk

Postgraduate research students

Information for PGR students

Go to the EngInf PGR Canvas site for information and resources for current PhD students. New PhD students are automatically enrolled. The site is maintained by the School Office. Please contact us if you have any access issues: ei@sussex.ac.uk

Go to our 'For tutors' page for information about becoming a doctoral tutor.

Other information

Computer labs & computing support

Engineering and Informatics teaching labs provide specialist software which is not available elsewhere on campus.

Our labs are maintained by our specialist Computing Support Team.

Log-in access to computers in Chichester buildings 1 and 2 is restricted to students taking EngInf modules. Door codes for the labs can be obtained from the School Office or the Informatics Helpdesk: Chichester 1 room CI-201,

rt-informatics@sussex.ac.uk opening hours: Mon-Fri 9.30 - 12.30 and 14.30 - 17.30

A timetable of sceduled teaching will be displayed on the door of each lab. You are required to work silently if using a lab alongside students in a timetabled teaching session.

Electronics support drop-in sessions

Electronics support drop-in session for UG and PG students

The department of Engineering and Design is offering one-to-one technical advice for electronics-based coursework and projects to support students’ learning and improving their technical skills in electronics.

These sessions are available for you to seek advice, if you are an Engineering and Design UG and PG student requiring support in the following areas:

Getting familiarised with a new piece of equipment
Get electronics technical support/advise for your modules and projects,
Further develop your hands-on electronic skills for a project
Have a particular query with a project/coursework you are working on.

Please bring any questions you have to these drop-in sessions

The drop-in sessions are held in JCW F3 every Wednesday 1 - 3pm. The sessions are delivered by our Electronics Engineering technical specialist, Aidan Carroll (atc27@sussex.ac.uk)

Though students are welcome to attend the drop-in session, it is recommended that you email ahead to confirm your attendance adding a short description of what kind of problem you are facing.

Below are some FAQs on how these sessions are run. If you find that these do not answer your query, please contact Aidan Carroll (atc27@sussex.ac.uk)

What is the service about?

This is an opportunity to bring any practical queries or problems related to electronics projects or coursework to an electronics technical specialist staff member.

Who can attend the sessions?

Any Engineering and Design UG and PG student can attend these sessions though it is primarily for those students with coursework or project queries related to electronics modules and final projects.

Where and when do the sessions will take place?

Wednesdays 13:00-15:00 in JCW (John Clifford West building). These sessions will usually take place in room F3.

I am not an Engineering & Design student; may I attend the drop-in session?

Yes, you can! Although priority will be given to those students on Eng & Design courses. Please email before attending.

Equipment loans

As part of your course, some modules will require the loan of equipment/materials for projects or coursework. Some equipment is available on loan.

Equipment loans

Expense claims

Students must complete the ‘Visitor and Student Expense Claim Form’ to get reimbursed for Out of Pocket expenses.

Please allow approximate 2 weeks for your expenses to be processed.

ID cards & your candidate number

You will find your candidate number on your student ID card and on your Sussex Direct study page. This is the 6-digit number that you must put on your coursework and exam submissions. Your ID card is also your library card. If you transfer to a new course with a different end-date, you will need to replace your card.

Getting a replacement student ID card

Letters

You can request a letter to prove your status as a student and get forms completed by the University. See Letters and Documents on the Student Hub.

Library resources

Engineering library resources

Informatics library resources

Meeting rooms

Meeting rooms 1 and 2 in Chichester Foyer are available for students to use. Contact the School Office to book and to collect the key. ei@sussex.ac.uk

Minibus hire

The School owns a minibus that is available for our staff and students to hire for university activites.

Maximum no of passengers: 8 + driver (no special licence is needed to drive the vehicle)
The minimum age for driving the school vehicle is 21.
Drivers need to hold a valid driving licence. UK/European/International licences are accepted.

The School Office will need a copy of the licence.

Drivers need to complete a Driver Declaration Form once and a Vehicle Hire Form for each hire.

To book, contact the School Office: ei@sussex.ac.uk

School of Engineering and Informatics (for staff and students)