Communication – email/mail/announcements/texts
The Student Support Office is open 08.30 -17.00 Monday to Friday and should be your first stop for queries relating to your programme and general student support. Occasionally the opening times may vary, but we will inform you of this via the email announcement service (see below).
Effective communication between you, the staff of the School and the central administration of the University is vital. There will be many important official notices (including those on timetables, examinations and course assessment marks) for you to read and act upon during the year. There are three important channels of communication: electronic (email via your University email account,
announcements, the intranet, text messages nd Blackboard); paper (e.g. letters to your postal address); verbal (e.g. announcements in lectures and practicals).
Electronic communication: as part of registration you will be provided with a University email address and will be given a username and password. You must not pass on your username or password to anyone else and must not divulge email addresses of fellow students or staff to anyone else without their permission.
Verbal communication: staff may occasionally make verbal announcements in lectures and practicals that do not appear in any other fashion, so if you are late, or unable to attend something, be sure to check with a fellow student or the staff member concerned that you did not miss an important announcement. This is especially important for practical work; as if you are late you may miss health and safety announcements and may be denied entry to the lab.
Email and the Faculty Intranet Announcement Service are the standard methods used to communicate with students so you must ensure that you check your University email messages (including “Announcements” emails) on a regular and frequent basis – at least once a day. If you do not regularly check your email, your inbox may become full and important messages will not then get through to you.
Failure to respond to notices and mail means that you may miss lectures, tutorials or meetings, or it may even cost you money (e.g. library fines).
Email will be the main medium for communication with academic staff, including your Advisor. You will find their addresses in the email address books on the University network and on the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health (FBMH) Intranet.
PLEASE NOTE: email communication will only occur via your University email address and staff will not use or respond to any other email address except in very exceptional circumstances. Furthermore, you should not autoforward University email to a personal email address. Once personal email folders are full, new messages are deleted.
Text Messages: The School will endeavour to send any urgent messages that require immediate notification (such as cancellation of a lecture) via SMS text message to your mobile phone. To ensure that you receive these message you must ensure that your personal details held by the University are updated with any changes to your mobile phone number. If you do not wish to receive urgent messages in this format, please contact the Student Support Office.
MyManchester: My Manchester is a personalised online space for current students, which provides easy access to learning resources, services, student support and information, all in one place.
If your personal details change (term-time or home postal addresses, phone numbers, etc.) you must update your student record promptly or notify the Student Support Office if you are unable to make the changes via MyManchester. It is also your responsibility to ensure that your programme and unit information are correct and to notify the Student Support Office if changes are required. Any difficulties obtaining emails should be reported to IT Services – http://www.itservices.manchester.ac.uk/help/.
As a rule, it is advisable to have mail sent to your local accommodation rather than to the School. However, if you need to quote a University address for mail, the correct form is:
Undergraduate Mail Box
Student Support Office
School of Biological Sciences
G.483 Stopford Building
The University of Manchester
Oxford Road
Manchester
M13 9PT
All mail will be delivered to the Student Support Office.