Glossary for new students

Starting somewhere new can be hard, especially when you’re introduced to new words, terms and phrases that other people (we mean staff at the uni!) have been using for years. We’ve put together a glossary to help you navigate your way through some tricky terms until you become a pro at uni-speak.

Choose your letter

A - D

A

Academic: A teacher, lecturer or scholar in the University.

Academic induction: The period before teaching starts that acts as an introduction for new students to your course, school and the University. Find more information on your induction.

Academic skills: These are the skills you use to learn, complete assessments and understand material in your course. You can make sure you’re ready by taking a look at the info on our ‘Get ready to learn’ webpage.

Academic tutor: Every student has an academic tutor. Your academic tutor is your first point of contact for any questions. They are responsible for your academic, personal and professional development.

Academic year: The period of the year in which teaching is taking place, divided up into three trimesters. Many undergraduate students study in Trimesters 1 and 2 only, but other students will study in different patterns.

askUS: askUS are your one-stop shop for student enquiries and support. If you’re not quite sure where to start and need help with anything from registration to paying for university, or using different facilities on campus to life after graduation – askUS are here to support, on whatever level you need.

Assessments: Assessments can be an essay, exam, presentation or other task that evaluates your progress. For each assessment, you will receive an assignment brief which will tell you exactly what you need to do.

B

Blackboard (or Virtual Learning Environment): Blackboard is an important Virtual Learning Environment used by the University of Salford for the digital aspects of courses of study. It is vital that students familiarise themselves with this web-based platform in order to find out everything for their programme. This is where you can upload assignments, access course documents and resources, as well as communicate with staff and students. Access Blackboard here.

E - H

E

e-Learning: An online guide, which usually includes video content to help you learn a particular skill.

Exceptional Circumstances (formerly Personal Mitigating Circumstances or PMCs): This is a process to apply to change the deadline of an assignment if there were circumstances out of your control that meant you couldn’t complete it in time. Note: you should always try to submit your work by the deadline and only use an Exceptional Circumstance when absolutely needed. Find out more on our dedicated Exceptional Circumstances page.

F

Feedback: Information provided to you by the person teaching you, or by a peer, that is designed to show you where your work is good and where it can be improved. Feedback can be formal, written in response to something you have written, or informal. On assessed work you will usually receive generic and individual feedback.

Formative Assessment: A piece of work that you do to practice your skills and get feedback. It does not count towards your module grade or results. At Salford we refer to these as ‘practice for success’ opportunities.

I - L

L

Learning pathway: A course available on LinkedIn Learning to help you learn a particular skill. See more about LinkedIn Learning on our Library webpage.

Lecture: A large group teaching session that can take place in a lecture hall or a smaller room. A lecture is intended to give you an outline or introduction to a subject area. You are expected to take notes and follow this up with reading yourself.

M - O

M

Mathscope: Is a support unit for students who may experience difficulties with mathematics in whatever subject you are studying. Find out more on the Mathscope website.

Microsite: An area of the Student Hub dedicated to your school’s latest news, events and opportunities. You'll need to have completed registration to access these pages on the Student Hub:

Microsoft Teams: An online tool where you can talk to others through video calls. Occasionally some teaching sessions may be held online on Teams. You can access it for free through your student Microsoft 365 account.

Module: Each course is divided into a set of units of study. These units are modules. Some modules on your course will be core (compulsory) and others you can choose to study (optional). Each individual module will have its own learning outcomes and usually have their own assignment(s).

Module leader: The member of staff responsible for each module you study - they organise the module, support the teaching staff and can answer any questions about that module.

O

Office hours: These are times that academic teaching staff are available to meet with their students. Staff may offer in-person meetings in their office or virtual meetings online. Sometimes they are bookable, other times they are drop-in office hours where you just go along. You can find out the office hours for members of staff on Blackboard.

P - S

P

Personal tutor (or Academic Progress Review tutor): A personal tutor is an academic member of staff who will act as a guiding support in a student’s academic progress and university experience. Not every student has a personal tutor. Some students have Academic Progress Review tutors.

Plagiarism: This means using someone else’s work without giving them proper credit. In academic writing, it involves using words, ideas, or information from a source without citing it correctly.
Avoiding plagiarism is essential for maintaining academic integrity and ensuring your work is truly your own and avoiding academic misconduct which can get you into trouble.

Programme (or programme of study): This is your course – e.g. Film Production, Zoology, Adult Nursing. For each programme, there is a member of academic staff who is responsible for your programme. This person is called the Programme Leader.

R

RAPs (or Reasonable Adjustment Plans): RAPs are what we can help put in place to ensure you have fair and equal access to your education. You’ll meet with a Disability Adviser to discuss what barriers may be present in your course. We’ll explore support strategies that may help you to access teaching, learning, assessments, and other aspects such as placements or field trips. The RAP will detail reasonable adjustments and any difficulties you may have relating to your studies. It will be distributed to select university staff so that your course will be made more accessible to you, and it will include advice for both yourself and university staff.

Referencing: When doing a written assignment, references show where you got your information from or what influenced your thinking. A bibliography is a list of ALL the sources used in preparing the work.

S

School: Courses are all organised into different schools that look after similar subject matter areas. Our schools are:

School of Arts, Media and Creative Technology
Salford Business School
School of Health and Society
School of Science, Engineering and Environment

Seminar: a mixture between a lecture and a tutorial. You often need to prepare for seminars before attending (make sure you check Blackboard). These will be led by an academic and include anywhere up to 40 students (sometimes a few more on popular courses). This may differ from course to course.

SPA (or Student Progression Advisor): A staff member in your school who helps students with everything from support in difficult personal times to staying on track with progressing through their course. Student Progression Advisors are here to support your academic progression and engagement; while also helping you access the wellbeing support you may need.

Student handbook: The Current Students page acts as a Student handbook filled with helpful links you might need during your time studying at the University of Salford.

Student Hub: The Student Hub is an internal site that hosts key information for students and links to all the systems you need for everyday uni life. You can access the Student Hub as soon as you have completed registration.

Student ID (or roll number): Your student ID is a unique number assigned to you. You will use it to access some systems. It is presented as @00123456.

Summative assessment: A piece of work that does count towards your module grade. Compulsory - you must do this work.

T - W

T

Timetable – personal timetable: Your personal timetable will show you everything you should attend this year as part of your studies, though you may have some pre-recorded content to view on Blackboard. See more on our Timetable Guidance page.

Timetable – programme timetable, also known as course timetable: Your programme timetable shows all the teaching scheduled for the entire course, which means you’ll see all groups for each module on the course timetable. See more on our Timetable Guidance page.

Trimester: Trimesters describe how the academic year is divided. Each trimester is approximately 12 weeks long.

Tutorial: Is where you meet an academic either for a one-to-one session or as a small group, usually taking place in a smaller room than a lecture or a seminar.

W

Welcome: Welcome is a period of time before your first trimester starts, including the period of events that introduce you to the University and student life. You may have also heard this referred to as ‘Welcome Week’ or ‘Freshers’. Find Welcome events listed on our events hub.