Category Archives: Support

Here is some information from the wider university service areas.

Masterclass Autumn 2014

Masterclass is designed to support students who may be unfamiliar with study at university level, or need to update their skills particularly in independent research and writing.

All students are welcome, but these sessions will be of particular interest to those returning to study or from outside the UK. All sessions will be held on Thursdays. All classes are free, and you only need to come to the specific sessions that interest you.

You must sign up in advance for each Masterclass. The signup sheet will be available in the TESOL Office, Science Park, Unit 3 the week prior to each class.

Masterclass is run by the University English Scheme (UES). For more information on these or other UES classes please come to the TESOL offices, Science Park, Unit 3, or e-mail ues@shu.ac.uk

There will be four sessions, session 1 is advertised below, more sessions will be advertised in future editions of IS News.

Session 1 – Getting more from your lectures: how to improve your note-taking and revision skills.

Thursday 16 October
11:00am – 12:00pm
Aspect Court room 15303    

Note-taking in lectures can be a challenge when you start studying at university; how do you keep up, know what to write and what to leave out, and what do you do with your notes after the lecture?

This session will offer some note-taking tips and tricks to improve your work in the lecture, and discuss how to revise your notes after class and prior to exams to get the most from your lectures.

Fraudulent email with the subject line “Account update required”

Important security update  – please read

A number of staff and students have received an email during the bank holiday weekend with a subject ‘Account update required’ and a ShuSpace logo. Following the link it contains takes you to a fake SHU logon page. This email is a forgery aimed at collecting usernames and passwords from those who fill in the form.

If you have received it please do not fill in your username and password in the logon form. However, if you have already entered these details please change your password as soon as possible as your account is at risk of misuse.

You can change your password by following the ‘Forgotten your Password?’ link from the University logon page reached via ShuSpace.

Please remember you should not follow links in any email unless you are absolutely certain they are genuine. If you have any questions or concerns about this or other suspicious emails please contact IT Help on 0114 225 3333 or ithelp@shu.ac.uk

A new peer mentoring scheme

For over a year I have been developing a volunteer peer mentoring scheme for International Student Support to help new international students settle into life in the UK, meet new people and improve their language skills.

I am alsSam Logano a part-time Master’s student in Coaching and Mentoring and I had the idea while doing some volunteer work with international students. I recently achieved Platinum Hallam Award for my volunteer work.

In my spare time I have been mentoring four mentees from different countries – Vietnam, Malaysia, Hong Kong and India, with the aim of helping them to socially integrate into the university community. I have really enjoyed the experience, learning more about different cultures, widening my understanding of issues faced by international students and facilitating their positive transition.

We launched a small pilot in September 2013 to April 2014 for 44 students, which involved matching each mentee with a mentor from a different country.

Being mentored by someone from a different country can enhance your understanding of your own culture by helping you to notice and question things you might normally overlook. I believe cross-cultural mentoring is a fantastic way for you to develop your cultural intelligence, which will not only help you settle into university life, it will also help you to build positive working relationships in the future.

Culture ConnectThe scheme will be launched officially in the new academic year and we will start recruiting mentors and mentees from September. All current students can apply to become mentors, including home students. We encourage students who have taken part in extracurricular activities to get involved.

Mentoring is a two-way learning relationship, described by participants on the pilot as ‘learning through sharing’. Both mentees and mentors reported improving their cultural awareness, time management and communication skills. As well as gaining valuable experience for their CV.

‘Culture Connect is one of the best schemes being offered by Sheffield Hallam University for new students in Sheffield. I advise all new students to join this scheme.’ Sohaib Hassan, Mentee from Pakistan, MSc Applying Physiotherapy

View a selection of student case studies from the pilot project.

More information about the scheme will be added to the Facebook page soon.