Advice(su)

Our Service

Advice(su) is your free, independent and confidential advice service, available to all UEA students. We’re here to guide you through university processes, helping you find the right information to make an informed decision. You’re at the heart of everything we do, and we’re committed to a person-centred, non-judgemental approach.

Check through our range of online resources and guidance – if you can’t find what you’re looking for, or you’d like an appointment with an advisor, contact us.

Meet the team

Bronte Thomas-Bush

Advisor

Tess Lewis-Williams

Advisor

Maegan Senarlo

Advisor

Kathryn Redfern

Head of Advice & Welfare

What we do

• We provide advice on a range of topics including appeals and complaints, academic and non-academic discipline and housing.
• We'll support you in different ways including voice & video calls, email and face to face.
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Advice standards

We’ve made a commitment to provide the best support we can to all UEA students, and it’s important that you understand how we can do that. We ask that students help us to deliver the most effective support by engaging with our standards too.

What students can expect from us

• A confidential service. We work independently to UEA and don’t share any information with the university unless you ask us to. We need your written consent before storing your details on our advice case management system, and will speak to you if we think it would be helpful to contact UEA about your circumstances.
• Non-judgemental advice. We’re all human, and want to create a safe space where you can talk about what’s been impacting you. We’re here to listen and help you decide on the best course of action.
• Self-help resources and information. You’re here to learn – we’ll provide the tools you need to face challenges and find solutions independently in the future. We maintain good relationships with UEA so they can keep us updated on any policy and regulation changes.
• Honesty and clear boundaries. Our job is to make university processes and regulations easier to understand, and sometimes that means having to be really honest about your options. If we think your circumstances don’t meet the grounds for the outcome you want, or if we’re not the right team to offer support, we’ll let you know.
• Communication. We’ll keep our webpages, emails and resources up-to-date, and make sure our response times and closures are advertised clearly.
• Fair. We’re a small team of advisors, and there could be times where we face conflicts of interest when supporting larger groups of students, particularly in plagiarism and collusion cases. If we can’t offer bespoke support to everyone, we’ll help you access information and explore alternative means of support. 
• Accessible, inclusive and adaptable. Your student experience is always changing, and we’re always looking at new ways to provide information and advice, in ways that suit you. We’re committed to taking on feedback and adapting our practices to meet the needs of our students.  

What we expect from our students

• Respect. Our advisors are working hard to support as many students as possible, and we ask that you be considerate in your communication. There may be times where we cannot provide the information or outcome that you want – there can be many reasons for this and we expect students to remain polite and treat advisors with respect.
• Honesty. We can only provide the most effective support to you when we know all the details of your situation. The more information you can share, the easier it is for us to find the right solution for you. We work independently from the University and will not judge you.
• Patience during busy periods. We are a small team and there may be times of the year when we see a very high number of support requests. We aim to help you in the quickest possible timeframes and will keep our website updated with anticipated response times. Please do not send multiple emails to advisors unless you have new information to share about your case.
• Engagement. We’re here to help you navigate University procedures, but we cannot do the work for you. Our advice will be most effective with your input and initiative – take the time to read through the information we share, and actively engage with the recommendations we give you.  
• Responsiveness. The sooner you respond to our emails, the sooner we can start advising on your circumstances. If you do not contact us with sufficient time or information about your case, we may only be able to offer basic information and will not be able to offer full appointments or support at university meetings.
• Punctuality. If you are going to be late for an appointment, or unable to attend, please let us know as soon as possible. See below for our late appointment rules.
• Effective communication. Our advisors are working with lots of students, and you can respect their time and work by responding to emails and communication promptly, especially if they have given you a deadline. Check your emails regularly and let us know if the situation has been resolved or you no longer need our help. If we have reached out to you and not received a response in an appropriate timeframe, we may close your case.

Queries and Appointments

Once you've completed our contact form, we'll review it and identify the best type of support for you - this could include an email with information and structured guidance, or we might think it's best to offer you a 121 appointment.

We can offer appointments by email, face-to-face, Teams and telephone. We’ll do our best to offer the type of appointment that best suits you, but there may be times when we limit certain appointments to make sure we can support as many students as effectively as possible.

Email appointments are not allocated a specific time during your allocated day. Your advisor will contact you by 5pm with their structured appointment guidance.

We offer 45 minute appointments as standard. We ask that you respect our advisors by arriving on time, whether that is in person or on Teams.

If you are late for your appointment, within 10 minutes of the start time we will still be able to see you, but expect a shorter appointment.

If you are 15 minutes late or longer, we will not be able to continue the appointment, but will rebook you for the next available appointment.

In the case of complex situations or group meetings, advisors reserve the right to rebook late appointments if they feel the remaining time will not be sufficient to support you properly.

If you miss your appointment and do not contact the advice team within 2 working days to follow up, we may close your case.