Academic Parents
The academic parenting scheme at Trevs groups all first year undergraduates with a few older year students (parents) who study their subject. This creates academic families, one per subject, with a few parents and all the freshers studying that subject.
Their purpose is for academic support in an informal setting and helping first years settle into academic life. They allow first years to meet each other and students in older years studying their subject. Parents can help provide academic support with tutorial work, essays and revision for exams as well as information about modules and lectures. They run at least one academic family activity each term, to allow everyone to get to know each other and you can get in touch with them at any other point during the year. Freshers will meet their academic parents either during or the week after Freshers week, with the list below showing the current Academic Parents. Students studying Combined Honours, Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences will be in the single honours families of every subject they study.
If you want any more information, contact Laura Hosford (Assistant Welfare managing Academic Parents) – [email protected].
Frequently Asked Questions
Who are my academic parents?
They are grouped by subject in the list below, with your parents studying the same subject as you are currently studying. For Natural Sciences, Combined Honours or Liberal Arts, you have academic parents for all of the subjects you currently study. If you are still unsure, please contact Laura Hosford ([email protected]).
What’s the point in academic parenting/families?
Academic parenting is an organised programme to help all first years settle into the academic side of university life. They are an extension of Freps, but from a purely academic point of view. They are there to help you with any problems you may encounter, whether it be a specific piece of work or just navigating your department. As well as introducing you to people in older year who study the same subject and giving you a perspective on what future years of your degree will be like. So they are an incredibly useful part of College.
Why do academic families put on social?
This is to give you a chance to get to know people who study your subject in your year and the years above, while give you an informal setting to ask anything about the academic side of university life. It also means the first time you go to them for help won’t also be the first time you speak to them. Which should make the whole thing easier, although you can go to your academic parent for help regardless of if you have met them before. So they are a really great thing to go along to!
What things can I go to my academic parents about?
You can go to them about any piece of work you might be struggling with: tutorial work, seminar prep, lab reports, reading requirements, essays or past exam questions. They can then provide pointers of how to improve or explain the answers to questions. They are not allowed to give you any work they have submitted themselves but can help you with anything you have done. You can also discuss module choices, managing workloads/reading or any other department related issues. They signed up to help you, so take them up on their offer of help.