1.7 Who are we?
So now you know a bit more about each other, let’s spend a few minutes introducing you to some of the key people in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences who’ll be supporting you through your programme of study. Most of our academic members of staff (or ‘faculty’ as they are sometimes called) split their time between teaching and research, or clinical roles within the NHS, with some also taking on additional roles.
Academic (Personal) Tutors
As soon as you enrol, you’ll be allocated your own dedicated Academic (Personal) Tutor who’ll be your first point of contact if you have any queries or concerns about your overall progress and wellbeing. You’ll be invited to attend regular meetings with them throughout the academic year, either online or on campus, and it’s important that you attend even if only for a very quick chat to confirm that all is well. They will reach out to you at the start of each term to offer one group meeting (with all of their tutees), as well as a one-to-one meeting where you can get more personalised support and guidance. You can also contact your Academic (Personal) Tutor at any time by email or Teams, or by making an appointment to talk to them (on campus or virtually via Teams or Zoom) during their weekly office hours. The relationship you build up with your tutor is an important one, not least because they will sometimes be the person who writes references for you when you start applying for jobs, further study or other positions such as internships. This short video outlines some of the benefits of our tutoring system:
This is an additional video, hosted on YouTube.
Module Tutors
Your degree is made up of a number of different courses called ‘modules’. Some of these run across a single term, some across two terms, and some might run across the academic year. Each module is led by a named academic member of staff, but most are taught by a team of tutors. You can seek advice from your Module Tutors during their weekly office hours (which are available on the module’s ELE page) or via email. You may need to make an appointment for a specific time, or there may be open drop-in sessions on campus or via Teams/Zoom.
Programme Leads
Each of our programmes is led by a Programme Lead, whose job it is to oversee the smooth running of the programme and to liaise with all of the Module Tutors to ensure that you make good progress. You might need to contact them with any programme-level concerns, and they may also be able to advise you on your module choices.
Directors of Education & Student Experience (DESE)
Each of our departments has a Director of Education & Student Experience who has overall responsibility for the quality of education in their subject area. You’ll be able to meet them at our welcome sessions during Freshers’ Week, and most of your contact with them will probably be in their regular role as an academic member of staff teaching you on modules. If you encounter any significant difficulties with your studies, your personal tutor, programme lead and DESE will work with you to resolve these.
Associate Dean (Education)
Each Faculty in the University of Exeter has an Associate Dean (Education), and in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, this role is held by Ian Fussell. You may have met him already at one of our Open Days or Offer Holder Visit Days. Ian oversees the education provision across the whole of the Faculty, and ensures that the quality of your programmes remains consistently high.
Contacting us
You can find a complete list of all staff in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences here, including office locations and contact details.
Remember to use your Exeter email account for any correspondence about your course (rather than a personal email account), and to check your inbox daily as this will be our main way of communicating with you while you’re a student. Every year many students miss out on important information by not checking their email: please take the time to ensure you are not one of them!
If you are emailing a tutor about a specific module, it is helpful to include the module code in the subject of your email and indicate that your email is a student query.