The School of Physical Sciences Personal
and Academic Support System
PASS
SPS PASS
 PASS provides supportive care and is designed to:
 Apply equally to all students,
 Be a clear and straightforward system.
 Your Student Support Advisor, Christine Vickerman,
is responsible for ‘pastoral’ support;
 You can find Christine in room 209 Ingram Building.
 However, routine appointments must be booked by
email to spssupport@kent.ac.uk or call in to the
SPS student counter 2nd floor Ingram Building.
Senior Tutor
 Senior Tutor: Mark
Johnson:
 Room 119 Ingram Building.
 mrj@kent.ac.uk
 Responsible for all disciplinary matters.
 Including:
 Attendance and deadline monitoring.
 Academic Performance
 Disruptive behaviour.
 Academic Integrity.
Expectations
 As an undergraduate student you are expected to:
 Attend all timetabled events.
Every timetabled event is compulsory, so check SDS and Moodle
 Be punctual to these events.
 Lecture start at 5 minutes past the hour.
 If for some unavoidable reason you are late, do not make a drama
out of your entry.
 Just quietly go to a seat and see the lecturer at the end of the session.
 Hand in work on time and in the correct place.
Check your deadlines on SDS.
Deadlines are absolute, academics cannot, and will not, give extensions.
If you have a real non academic problem then see Christine Vickerman
Behaviour
 Behaviour in Lectures:
 You are here to learn and have a good time.
 However, learning should come first.
 So no MP3 players, mobile phone conversations (voice or text),
Facebook, Twitter (etc) during lectures/labs.
 Get any urgent social interactions over before the session, you are
there to learn.
 If you don’t want to listen then do not be so rude and inconsiderate
as to disturb your peers.
 By all means ask questions, that is what you are here for.
Attendance and Submission Issues
 If you miss classes or a deadlines then you will get an informal prompt
(via email) from the Student Support Advisor.
 This is to remind you that participation in all timetabled events and
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meeting every deadline is mandatory.
If the omission is because you are having non-academic difficulties then
you must contact the SSA immediately for advice.
For purely academic issues (anything to do with course content or
assessments) you should see the lecturer or module convenor concerned.
We will always seek to help you, but it is important to remember that it is
your responsibility to come forward and ask for support if it is needed.
Remember: There are numerous support mechanisms available to you, but
you have to ask: We are not telepathic.
Discipline Stage 1
 If you continue to miss events or deadlines without just
cause you will get:
A 1st Informal Warning.
And an interview with the Senior Tutor.
This warning will be entered on your student record.
It will remain in force for one calendar year from the date it
is issued.
 If nothing else untoward happens then it expires and no
further record of it kept.
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Discipline Stage 2
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If things don’t improve then you will be given a:
Formal Warning
The warning will state that an immediate improvement is expected, and
that you will be under continuous review.
This will be accompanied by a learning contract.
This is a document which explicitly sets out academic or behavioural
aims for the immediate future.
It leaves the recipient in no doubt as to what is expected.
However, if you are still unsure then talk to the SSA.
Discipline Final Stage
 If the Formal Warning fails to turn things around then you will be
referred to Faculty for a Final Warning.
 This is not done lightly as after all this there can only be one place to go:
 ‘Three strikes and then you’re out!’
 By “Out” I mean deregistered from the university.
 It is therefore in your own best interests to contact the SSA quickly if
you are experiencing non-academic difficulties.
 The existence of formal warnings can be used as evidence by the Boards
of Examiners when considering resit opportunities.
Academic Advisers
 You will all be assigned a personal Academic Adviser.
 Your adviser will meet with you periodically to:
 Provide developmental, academic advice and guidance
 Provide proactive and structured support at key stages to establish an
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ongoing relationship
Provide advice on module choices and registration, if required
Review overall academic progress and reflect on development of skills and
attributes
Advise on opportunities for development within and outside the curriculum
Refer the student, as appropriate, to other specialist sources of academic
advice and personal support
What Your AA Will Not Do
 Solve learning problems or problems to do with academic
understanding.
 That is the job of the lecturer or module convenor.
 Give personal advice.
Your AA may refer you to outside agencies, but they will not become embroiled
in any personal life/problems you may have.
 Remember:
 If a non academic problem is impacting your studies then we need to
know ASAP:
 Book an appointment with Christine Vickerman
Poor Academic Performance
 At various stages throughout the year we monitor your
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academic progress and performance.
This is to help YOU.
Poor performance can often mean that there are underlying
problems.
If you are identified as struggling you will be required to
meet with your Academic Advisor to discuss your
progress.
There are a number of options which result from this
meeting
Academic Advisor Meeting
 1. If you are having academic difficulties:
 Your AA can point you to the appropriate support in order for you to
overcome the issues.
 2. If there are non academic issues:
 Again your AA can point you at the appropriate support.
 3.If you are just being a bit “lax” with coursework:
 Expect to have a finger wagged in your general direction and a
reminder that you are here primarily to earn a degree.
 If this solves the problem and your performance picks up then that is the
end of the matter.
 Everyone is happy!
Continuing Performance Issues
 If things are still less than satisfactory you can be referred to the Senior
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Tutor.
This can result in formal a warning which stays live for 12 months.
If things continue to go downhill:
You can be referred to the Faculty for deregistration.
If you do not want to work then you are wasting our time and your time
and money.
If you are having real problems then come forward and we will do
everything we possibly can to help.
Sick Policy
 We all have the odd “head in a bucket” day.
 You will not be able to get medical evidence for this from the medical
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centre.
That’s if you can even drag yourself to the medical Centre.
However, if you miss lectures you may end up being given a discipline
warning.
Not good.
But as we are nice people in SPS and we have a solution which reflects
workplace practice.
Single Day Sickness
 You must email : SPSsick@kent.ac.uk
 Before 18.00 on the day that you are absent.
 You must then complete a sick form and hand it in to the Degree programmes
office 2nd floor Ingram before 18.00 on the next working day.
 That is : You, in person.
 Not a friend.
 Then the missed day will not be counted against you for attendance purposes.
 You may do this a limited number of times, when you run out of sick days it’s
back to medical evidence.
 You cannot use this system to avoid any assessment of hand in.
 This is a SPS system and is not part of the credit framework so it can, and will,
be withdrawn if abused.
Academic Integrity
 You are required to act with honesty and integrity in relation
to your academic life and work.
 Any attempts to: cheat, plagiarise, improperly influence your lecturers, falsify
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data etc. will be viewed as a breach of University General Regulation V3.
This includes, but is not limited to:
Falsely representing work as your own.
Cutting and pasting from GooWickyYahoopedia etc.
Failing to properly reference your sources.
Copying work from another.
Allowing another to copy your work.
Submitting previously submitted work purporting it to be your own.
See: University Academic Integrity page.
Penalties
 Plagiarised work automatically receives a mark of zero for
that part of the work deemed to be not the effort of the
student.
 Offenders will be dealt with by the School Discipline Committee
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which may apply a number of sanctions which can include:
Failing the relevant module
Requiring those involved to withdraw from the University.
Offenders will be put ‘on probation’ for the remainder of their
undergraduate degree programme
Remember: We are a Forensic Science School.
You will be caught.
So don’t.
Good Academic Practice
 By completing your work honestly and independently and by correctly referencing your
sources you are exercising good academic practices.
The University of Kent states that achieving good academic practices involves:
 developing your own independent evaluation of academic issues
 drawing upon research from academics in your field of study
 discussing and evaluating existing concepts and theories
 demonstrating your understanding of the key literature
 developing your own arguments
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General Academic Regulations UoK 2014
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This means that you need to develop skills which lead to good academic practice
Study skills (eg reading, note-taking, research etc)
Critical enquiry and evaluation (eg balanced opinion, reasoning and argument)
Appropriate academic writing (eg essays, reports, dissertations etc) • referencing skills
(eg when and how to reference)
 Exam techniques (eg preparation, timing, etc).
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Dr D Arnold, UoK, 2014