"I believe that our role as educators is to prepare our students for the career of their choice, be that in industry or academia. My experience in a variety of posts in engineering companies, as well as leadership, management and pastoral positions in academia, provide me with a unique outlook.

In my role as Senior Tutor, I am responsible for the welfare and pastoral care of all undergraduate students. I liaise with Personal Tutors, Module Leaders, Year Organisers, Final Year Project Supervisors and the Undergraduate Office in order to identify students who might be struggling. We then ensure that the student is supported within the department and referred to the relevant university services. Every effort is made to ensure that students can perform to the best of their abilities, even when things do not go to plan.

We focus particularly on first year students as we are aware of the challenges they face in their transition from school to university.

In order to better understand the experiences that our students are going through, I am involved in activities for the first second and third years of the course. They can be in the form of lectures, group project supervision or industrial placements, amongst others."

A supportive environment

Universities like Imperial can be a challenging academic environment, but to help our students reach their potential, there's a College-wide network of academic and wellbeing support to smooth the transition to university study including

• a buddy scheme creating departmental families by pairing first years with returing students
• a personal tutor who you see once every two weeks
• a senior tutor to provide pastoral and academic support
• a departmental disabilities officer and a Disabilities Advisory Service to support you if you have a disability, specific learning difficulty or long-term health or mental health impairment
• trained counsellors to talk through any personal or emotional issues
• residential support teams in our halls of residence
• a multi-faith chapliancy
• an international student support service, providing immigration advice, and a range of events and social activities throughout the year

I found the jump from school to Imperial very difficult at first.  I found myself in a competitive environment that I hadn't experienced before. The improvement in my performance was aided through the network of support available in this department - in particular my tutor who was able to rebuild the confidence I was lacking.  - Tasimat